Olympic Surfing Surprisingly Interrupted by Whale Breaching Water

A whale joined the surfers during the Olympics competition on Monday.

A whale breaches as Costa Rica's Brisa Hennessy (R) competes in the women's surfing semi-finals, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Teahupo'o, on the French Polynesian Island of Tahiti, on August 5, 2024. | JEROME BROUILLET/AFP via Getty Images

Olympic surfers were having a whale of a time in Tahiti on Monday, as a whale in search of its gold medal moment in Paris decided to interrupt competition on the waters off the French Polynesian island.

During a surfing semifinal competition, as Brazilian surfer Tatiana Weston-Webb and Costa Rica's Brisa Hennessy paddled off in pursuit of the next wave, a whale, a safe distance away from the two surfers, suddenly decided to breach the water, providing the two athletes, the spectators and any photographers there a moment they will likely never forget.

Check out footage of the moment, courtesy of NBC's Olympics and Paralympics' account on X, formerly Twitter.

The Olympic surfing semi finalists had a WHALE stop by. #ParisOlympics 🐋 pic.twitter.com/r14xWnLTm4

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2024

Perhaps the whale was making the case for breaching the water to be an Olympic sport. In all seriousness, kudos to Agence France-Presse photographer Jerome Brouillet, who already captured one of the best photographs of the Paris Games with his shot of Brazil's Gabriel Medina celebrating a historic surf. Well, Brouillet has done it again.

Whales enjoying Olympic Games surfing ♥️#anothernosurfingphotosorry pic.twitter.com/sMm0Vo4d1N

— Jerome Brouillet Photography (@BrouilletJerome) August 5, 2024

As for the surfing, Hennessy narrowly missed out on a medal while Weston-Webb took silver. American surfer Caroline Marks took home the gold medal.