The world record holder and defending gold medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner had retired. The returning silver medalist, 35 year old Evelyn Ashford ran fast in the quarterfinals but was eliminated in the semis. Other returning veterans included Merlene Ottey, who won her first Olympic medal in 1980, Anelia Nuneva who made a heroic attempt to keep up with Griffith-Joyner four years earlier, only to have her hamstring explode in the attempt. Through the semi-final round, Juliet Cuthbert had the fastest qualifying time, while Gwen Torrence was the winner of the other semi-final. Both Cuthbert and Torrence were also returning finalists from 1988. Irina Privalova, Mary Onyali and Liliana Allen were younger sprinters. As the world championship silver medalist in the 100 metres hurdles, Gail Devers was known as a hurdler and didn't carry a strong reputation as a sprinter, though she had finished a distant second in Griffith-Joyner's world record race.
