Shark attacks are rare. But they still fuel fear for Olympic surfers.

The powerful waves and sharp coral reef at the Olympic surfing site in Teahupo’o, Tahiti present the clearest dangers. But not the only fears.

Sharks lurk.

As do surfers' share of tales.

The movie “Soul Surfer’’ documented the story of Bethany Hamilton , a professional surfer whose left arm was bitten off in a shark attack in 2003.

In 2015, during the finals of a pro surfing event in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, Australian Mick Fanning fought off a shark in an encounter captured by video.

And in June, former pro surfer Tamayo Perry was killed in a shark attack in Hawaii .

Yet a 2022 study on surfer and shark interactions reported that a survey of almost 400 surfers showed 44% stated that a shark being spotted would not stop them from going into the water.

“The fact of the matter is, those guys will be back in the water very quickly," George H. Burgess, former director of the International Shark Attack File, told ESPN after the attack on Fanning in 2015. Burgess added that he believed surfers would say: “'My time wasn't up. And damn, the next wave was great, dude.'"

There are no recorded shark attacks at the Olympic surf site. But the same cannot be said of Tahiti.

In 2019, off the coast of Tahiti, a tourist was attacked by a whitetip shark that ripped into the 35-year-old woman's chest.

Tahitian surfer Michel Bourez reported on social media in 2020 that a hammerhead shark tried to bite him while he was foil surfing.

Tiger sharks are among the most aggressive with humans. But in 75 years, there has been only one documented attack in the waters of Tahiti. That attack happened last year .

Wait, sharks fear surfers?

Cows kill more people than sharks do , reports Michael Heithaus, a marine ecologist at Florida International University (FIU) who specializes in predator-prey interactions.

He shares the fact to put shark attacks in perspective: they are uncommon. In Teahupo’o, he said, most of the reef sharks are gray or blacktip.

“Which are usually species that are much more worried about us than we should ever be about them,’’ said Heithaus, who also is dean of the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU. “So there's nothing about it that to me makes me concerned.

“And if you look at French Polynesia and even around Tahiti, there are lots of places where people are going out and seeking out sharks to swim with and it's a benefit to the country in terms of tourism.’’

In fact, a shark sanctuary has been in place in French Polynesian waters for 20 years, according to Mongabay. com newspaper.

Still, there are reports like the one from Bourez, the Tahitian surfer, who in 2020 detailed on Instagram an alleged hammerhead shark attack.

Fifteen minutes after the incident, Bourez wrote, he was back in the water.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shark attacks are rare. But they still fuel fear for Olympic surfers.