Olympic surfing (Photo by Ed Sloane / POOL / AFP)
Australian surfing judge Benjamin Lowe has been removed from the judging panel for a recent Instagram story posted with fellow Aussie surfer Ethan Ewing.

The Photo consists of Lowe (right) with his arm around Ewing (middle) and his coach Bede Durbidge (left), with the caption “These 3 Straddie Boys doing their stuff at the Olympics.”

The International Surfing Association quickly came out with a statement on Thursday announcing the removal of Lowe to “protect the integrity and fairness of the ongoing competition.”

However, many people on social media found no problem with the relationship between Lowe and Ewing.

“That’s ridiculous. Of course, Aussies will hang with Aussies, but that doesn’t mean you can’t judge impartially. What’s not impartial is eliminating an international judge from the panel,” wrote one user on X

“Pretty sure the surfing community would all know each other !! So what having a hug,” wrote another.

Either way, with the men’s semifinals, bronze medal match and gold medal match to take place on Aug. 3, Lowe will not be there to judge, leaving just two Australians on the judging panel.

Men’s Olympic Surfing Competition Coming to an End

The men’s semifinals are set to begin at 1 o’clock EST on Aug. 3 with the first heat consisting of Alonso Correa from Peru and Kauli Vaast from France. The second heat will be Gabriel Medina from Brazil and Jack Robinson from Australia.

Media was the favorite to win gold in the pre-event odds according to nxtbets at +200, with Robinson having the second-best odds at +320.

All four will be competing for their first career Olympic medals.