Humpback whale shoots out of ocean during Paris Olympics' surfing semifinals in Tahiti

Women competing in the Paris Olympics surfing semifinals in Tahiti encountered their toughest and biggest competitor yet as a humpback whale shot out of the ocean like Shamu.

The whale appeared Monday as Olympians Tatiana Weston-Webb from Brazil and Brisa Hennessy from Costa Rica faced off in a semifinal match.

In Tahiti, where the 2024 Olympics surfing competition was held about 10,000 miles from the event's host city of Paris, humpback whales are commonly seen during their migration between July and November, the BBC reported. Indigenous leaders of New Zealand, Tahiti and the Cook Islands provided historic protections to whales in the region in March when they signed a treaty recognizing the animals as "legal persons."

NBC's Olympics broadcast captured the moment when the whale burst out of the water as competitors sat on their surfboards nearby.

Who won the Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti?

Caroline Marks from the U.S. took home the women's surfing gold medal on Monday at the Paris Olympics in Tahiti.

"Your whole life goes into a moment like this," Marks said with a gold medal hanging around her neck, per ESPN. "It's beyond all my wildest dreams."

Marks beat Weston-Webb, who was awarded the silver medal.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympic surfing: Humpback whale makes an appearance during semifinals