THE SEOUL GAMES / THE BEN JOHNSON CONTROVERSY : Johnson’s Adviser Calls for Honesty : He Says Sprinter Should Make Statement, Salvage Image

Ben Johnson’s image, and thus his financial potential, can be salvaged if the Canadian sprinter is honest about his use of anabolic steroids, said the man who has negotiated his contracts for 3 years.

Drew Mearns, president of Heritage Sports of Cleveland, said Wednesday that Johnson needs to make a “tough, strong statement” in the aftermath of Monday’s disclosure that stanozolol, a steroid, had been detected in his urine.

Johnson, who had won the Olympic gold medal in the 100 meters in a world-record time of 9.79 seconds, was stripped of the medal and the record.

Mearns said that Johnson’s future will be ruined if he does not take a truthful position.

“It is obviously a disaster for Ben if nothing happens in the next couple of days,” Mearns said. “He needs to somehow exculpate himself from the substantive charge.”

Mearns said that Johnson needs to say that the setback will not end his career. “He made a long climb from nothing to superstardom, and he needs to say, ‘I’ll do it again,’ ” he said.

Mearns, who negotiated Johnson’s contracts with such companies as Diodora of Italy, Visa of Japan and Mazda of Japan, said he has received some calls from sponsors but that no one had canceled.

“It’s too short an amount of time,” Mearns said. “These companies would be talking to their attorneys before they decided to terminate a contract.”

Mearns is expecting some companies to renegotiate because of the negative publicity. He also said that most sponsors write morals clauses into their contracts.

Mearns also recently signed to represent Bulgaria’s athletes, with the exception of the weightlifting team, which also is entrenched in a drug controversy. After two of its members were stripped of gold medals for drug use, the Bulgarian delegation sent its team home.

Johnson’s natural testosterone levels in Seoul were 15 times lower than they should have been, indicating extensive steroid use, the acting director of the Canadian Center for Doping Control in Montreal said Wednesday.

“It would suggest he was a heavy user of steroids,” Dr. Robert Masse said. “Johnson’s testosterone levels would never go down that low after one or two doses.”

Testosterone is a natural hormone produced by the human body. Production of it decreases in people who take pharmaceutical steroids.

The director of the Montreal laboratory, Dr. Robert Dugal, is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, which oversees the testing of Olympic athletes for banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Although Johnson lost the world record and the gold medal, most of the gamblers who bet on him will keep their winnings.

The Las Vegas Hilton and Aladdin casinos said they would honor the actual result of the race.

“For betting purposes, Johnson was the winner, is the winner and will be the winner,” said Art Manteris of the Las Vegas Hilton. “This isn’t a unique circumstance. It’s happened in boxing and horse racing. This is standard policy.”

Said Jack Granowski of the Aladdin Hotel-Casino: “The betting for the 100 was on the race, not on the gold medal, and Johnson won the race.

“Everyone cashed their ticket, and nobody offered to give it back.”

A Toronto man, however, did return the $90 he had won on Johnson to the Hilton, along with a note that read:

“Please accept this money I received under false pretenses. I am a proud Canadian who likes to come to Las Vegas a few times a year. . . . I would feel dishonest and ashamed to keep this money, considering the disgraceful result which followed this race.”

Harrah’s Sports Book in Reno is returning outstanding bets on the race. A spokesman for Harrah’s said the casino had already paid off about half of the $10,000 in wagers it took in on the race.

“Originally, we weren’t going to refund the money,” said Joe Bachman, manager of Harrah’s Sports Book. “There’s lots of precedent in horse racing, where the order always stands. But there’s no precedent in a human race.

“But we decided to give it back because this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Times staff writers Elliott Almond and Chris Baker contributed to this story.