THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 12 : Notes : Johnson Advertisements Canceled

Advertisers who paid the “world’s fastest human” to convey their message are canceling the commercials, tearing down the posters and demanding their money back.

Ben Johnson still is the fastest man on record, with a 9.83-second clocking for 100 meters in Rome last year. But the positive test for steroids that cost him an Olympic gold medal and an even faster world record also might have cost him $1 million or more in endorsements and other fees.

After Johnson had run 9.79 seconds in beating Carl Lewis in their long-awaited Olympic showdown last Saturday, his manager, Larry Heidebrecht, said: “The total endorsement power that he has following the world record and gold medal would certainly put him into seven figures. . . . How many millions, I wouldn’t want to speculate.”

Not after the Canadian sprinter’s disqualification was announced.

Kyodo Oil Co. of Japan had been showing Johnson’s powerful stride in gasoline commercials. But Kyodo said it has taken them off the air, and that it would take pictures of Johnson down from 6,500 gas stations around the country.

Kyodo also is asking for a refund equal to 3 months’ worth of the contract due to expire in December. Kyodo wouldn’t say how much the contract is worth.

A Finnish dairy association said it is withdrawing a milk commercial featuring Johnson. And the Italian sportswear company Diadora decided to cancel its 5-year, $2.4-million contract with the runner.

Japan’s Kyodo News Service reported that Mazda Motor Corp. also is severing its connections with Johnson.

American Express Canada, Inc., also signed a contract with the Canadian Track and Field Assn. to sell a limited-edition lithograph of the runner at $199 each. Johnson appeared at events in Toronto and Vancouver to promote them.

“We have some still in our warehouse if you want a cheap deal on a lithograph,” American Express spokesman Kay Kendall said.

Add Johnson: The Ben Johnson story was the biggest of the Olympics, maybe the biggest in sports this year.

USA Today, in its efforts to get up close and personal with the rapidly departing Ben Johnson, sent a reporter to the airport with instructions to get on the flight with Johnson, whichever flight it was, and interview him as he flew back.

Well, the reporter did that, but it didn’t quite work the way it was supposed to. He got on a flight that had a Ben Johnson listed and found that this Ben Johnson was a middle-aged white man. This Ben Johnson told the reporter that he had never taken steroids, but that he did have hemorrhoids.

When the reporter tried to get back off the plane, awaiting takeoff at Kimpo Airport, he was told that he wouldn’t be allowed to. So the reporter and the Ben Johnson with hemorrhoids flew off together to Tokyo.

Game, set, get out: Crowds at the the tennis venue are a bit different than the tour players are accustomed to. There is lots more milling around and considerably more noise. The South Koreans don’t have many major tennis tournaments and aren’t used to the stuffy ways of tennis etiquette.

So it’s kind of fun to watch the reaction of some of America’s most pampered athletes when somebody drops a container of kimchi at courtside during somebody’s service toss at match point.

The high spot of this--or low spot, perhaps, if you are a player--was during the recent Brad Gilbert-Martin Jaite quarterfinal on Court 1. Four times during the match, the chair umpire stopped play and ordered women with crying babies from the grandstand before play could continue.

Add tennis: Robert Seguso and Ken Flach, seeded No. 1 in men’s doubles, have advanced to the semifinals without losing a set. They will play a semifinal Thursday and, assuming they keep rolling as they are, will be in the final on Saturday, sharing top billing in the tournament with the women’s singles final.

That is turning out to be a great guess or a smart move by tournament organizers, because the highest interest level here seems to be in women’s singles and Steffi Graf, and the best tennis is being played by Seguso and Flach.

Times sports editor Bill Dwyre contributed to this story.