Not even her coach who saw her drink the slimming tea. Or her fellow jins whom she consulted.
Esther Marie Singson realized too late — a full month after she won the bantamweight (57kg) gold in last December’s Southeast Asian Games — that the slimming tea she had drunk to reduce her weight contained a banned substance.
The random urine test revealed that she had taken a banned substance, diuretics which she suspected was contained in a slimming tea she drank weeks before the SEA Games to bring down her weight to 57 kg.
The Philippines won six gold medals in taekwondo. The other winners were featherweight Kristie Elaine Alora, finweight John Paul Lizardo, bantamweight Tshomlee Go, and lightweight Donald David Geisler and Mary Antoinette Rivero.
Of the six, only Singson and Rivero were made to take the test. Rivero was found negative of any banned substance.
"I tried it because I wanted to lose weight. I was over two kilos over the weight limit that’s why I took it. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to compete," she said. Singson said nobody informed her that the slimming tea which she was taking contained diuretics, known in the sports circle as a masking agent for performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids.
"Nobody told me,’’ said Singson, adding that it was a teammate who recommended to her the slimming tea.
Singson also said her coaches have seen her take the slimming tea. Just the same, nobody warned her that it could be dangerous.
"My coaches have seen me taking it," said Singson who added that other members of the taekwondo also took slimming tea.
"Nagtanong din po ako sa teammate ko (whom she described as a veteran) at wala naman daw pong side effects kaya walang bawal. "Yun daw ang nakakatulong para mag-lose ng weight (I also asked a teammate who told me that it has no side effect and it helps if one wants to lose weight)," added Singson.
Like Singson, the taekwondo athlete who recommended the slimming tea to her may have not known that it contained diuretics.
Still, this should not be used as an excuse, according to Dr. Raul Canlas, head of the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine. He also headed the medical committee during the SEA Games last December. "We tell the coaches, we tell the athletes and this is a common practice — not to take any medication or supplement without informing your coaches. That’s a policy," said Canlas.
The problem with some supplements, Canlas added, is that manufacturers do not always put all its contents. He said in the dope list of the World Anti-Doping Agency, there are 200 ingredients that are constantly changing.
"So the safest way for athletes, and we tell them that, is not to take anything that you don’t know anything about. Basically no supplements. Even the vitamins have to be monitored. The veteran athletes know this. Even Goma (Richard Gomez), Paeng Nepomuceno and Donald Geisler, when they are about to take something, they ask first," said Canlas.
"It was an understandable honest mistake. It was just unfortunate that siya (Singson) ang na-test. It’s something we have to take. We just have to wait for the sanctions if ever there are sanctions," he added.