Aussie Olympic judge sent home after “inappropriate act”
Australian surfing judge Ben Lowe has been sent home from the Paris Games after an "inappropriate" photo with an athlete went viral.
Lowe posed for a photo with Aussie surfer Ethan Ewing and his coach Bede Durbidge on the beaches of Tahiti - the largest island in French Polynesia where the Olympic surfing competition is taking place - to celebrate Ewing making it to the quarter finals.
The photo of the men soon went viral with the caption, “Three Straddie (North Stradbroke Island) boys doing their stuff at the Olympics.”
Despite the photo seeming completely harmless, the International Surfing Association (ISA) took swift action against Lowe.
According to the ISA, Lowe, an experienced World Surf League judge, has been stood down in accordance with the ISA’s code of conduct and the International Olympic Committee’s code of ethics.
The ISA released a statement overnight saying it removed Lowe from the judging panel for the remainder of the competition to "protect the integrity and fairness of the ongoing competition".
"The ISA is aware of a photo circulating on social media in which one of the Olympic surfing judges from Australia is seen socially interacting with an Australian athlete and the team manager," the ISA said.
"It is inappropriate for a judge to be interacting in this manner with an athlete and their team."
The surfing federation said it had "communicated with all judges and teams to remind them of their responsibilities regarding appropriate behaviour".
Image credits: Instagram