Whale Makes Dramatic Appearance During Olympic Surfing Semifinals

Whales migrate to Tahiti in the warmer months to mate and birth.

Spectators got quite the surprise at the Paris Olympics women's surfing semifinals during the final day of the competition on Monday afternoon when a massive whale breached in the background. And the breathtaking display was all caught on video.

The whale made its appearance—albeit from a safe distance—just as Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb and Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy were waiting to catch a wave. "Wow. That’s incredible," gasped one of the commentators announcing the competition, while a second added: "That’s a 10 right there. That's a perfect 10."

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

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

The Olympics surfing competition was held nearly 10,000 miles away from Paris in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. According to NPR, it's not unusual to spot whales in the French Polynesia between July and November, as they migrate to the warmer waters for mating and birthing season. Swimming with the animals is popular among tourists, and hunting them is highly illegal.

In fact, whales were actually granted "legal personhood" by Pacific Indigenous leaders from several of the neighboring island nations including New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and the Cook Islands, who signed a treaty to protect them.

"What we're trying to achieve here is to provide whales with certain rights," Māori conservationist Mere Takoko said in an interview back in April. "Those rights include the right to freedom of movement, natural behavior, development, cultural expression—which includes language—to a healthy environment, healthy oceans, and indeed the restoration of their populations."

But the whale breaching was not the only captivating sight from out of Tahiti during the surfing competition. Last week, Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina was photographed in a gravity-defying image taken during his near-perfect, 9.90 scoring performance. Medina also made Olympics history with his score, which was the highest ever recorded in the history of surfing at the Summer Games.