Humpback Whale Drops In on Olympic Surfing Finals in Tahiti

A humpback whale clearly wanted in on the action during the Paris Olympics surfing finals off the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.

The whale, thought to be a humpback, breached in the background as Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil and Brisa Hennessy of Costa Rica battled it out on Monday for a place in the finals of the women’s shortboard competition.

The scene, at the Teahupo’o reef, was captured by French photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who posted it on X with the caption “Whales enjoying Olympic Games surfing.”

The Agence France-Presse photographer appears to be in gold medal form. His photo last week of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina kicking off a wave has been described as the picture of the Paris Games, albeit taken 10,000 miles away.

Read more at The Daily Beast.