PARIS: Australian judge Benjamin Lowe was removed from the surfing competition at the Paris Games after an image surfaced on social media of Lowe posing for a photo with Australian surfer Ethan Ewing.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) said in a statement on Thursday that it removed Lowe from the judging panel for the rest of the event to "protect the integrity and fairness of the ongoing competition", the German news agency (dpa) reported.
According to media reports, Australian coach Bede Durbidge, who was also in the photo, had posted the picture in his Instagram story, a feature in which the post automatically disappears after 24 hours.
Lowe was heavily criticised by the Brazilian surfing federation after the Tokyo 2020 Games for underscoring Gabriel Medina in his semi-final heat against Japanese Kanoa Igarashi. --BERNAMA