An Australian surf judge has been dismissed from the Paris Olympics after a photo emerged of the official together with Australian surfer Ethan Ewing and national team coach Bede Durbidge.
Ben Lowe is a long-time judge on the World Surf League and was among the judging panel at the Tokyo Olympics. He had been in Tahiti over the past week judging heats as the best surfers in the world tackled the monster Teahupo’o wave in the hope of an Olympic medal.
But on Thursday, Lowe was removed from his duties after an Instagram photo emerged of the judge posing with Australian Olympic surfer Ewing and team coach Durbidge. The photo was captioned: “These 3 Straddie boys doing their stuff at the Olympics”. All three hail from North Stradbroke Island in Queensland.
After the photo gained some notoriety online, the International Surfing Association (ISA) issued a statement about the judge being “seen socially interacting” with the Australian team representatives.
“It is inappropriate for a judge to be interacting in this manner with an athlete and their team,” the governing body said. “To protect the integrity and fairness of the ongoing competition, and in accordance with the ISA Code of Conduct and IOC Code of Ethics, the ISA Executive Committee has decided to remove the judge from the judging panel for the remainder of the competition.”
It was unclear who originally posted the image on Instagram.
Lowe has been a contentious judge in the surfing world, with vocal Brazilian fans criticising the Australian for an apparent bias against three-time world champion Gabriel Medina. Surfing judging is highly subjective and criticism levelled at judges is often unfounded. But Lowe has become a target in Brazil.
“This is good for us,” a Brazilian team official told surf media outlet Stab following Lowe’s departure from the judging ranks. “If there’s no photo, nothing probably happens. But the situation is clearly not right.”
Following a break in action due to unfavourable surf conditions, the Olympic competition in Tahiti resumed on Thursday. Australia’s Tyler Wright, sister of Owen Wright who won bronze in Tokyo, booked her ticket to the quarter-final with a savvy heat win over Israel’s Anat Lelior. But later in the day Wright was knocked out of the last eight by American Caroline Marks in a low-scoring affair.
In the men’s draw, Australian duo Ewing and Jack Robinson faced off in a blockbuster quarter-final, with the Western Australian coming away with the spoils despite Ewing scoring an 8.33 for a major carve.
Ewing was asked after the heat about the judging furore. “Yeah, I’ve kinda been copping some hate on it online but I really don’t know the story or have any insight on it,” he said. “It’s sad for sure.”
Robinson will face Brazil’s Medina in the semi-final. The winner will surf for gold, while the loser will compete for a bronze medal.
