Paris Olympics sweetheart: rugby player Ilona Maher promotes body positivity through social media

PARIS (AP) — Ilona Maher, America’s rugby-playing social media sweetheart, walked onto the terrace of Team USA House carrying a sandwich, the United States' first ever rugby sevens Olympic medal hanging around her neck.

In between a rapid-fire media rotation, she squeezed in bites of her snack and re-applied her trademark red lipstick. It was authentic Maher, who uses the platform she has built to promote body positivity and the sport she loves, all while insisting women who run, tackle and throw stiff arms can still be feminine.

Maher, who first shot to stardom three years ago by using her wicked sense of humor to document behind-the-scenes life at the Tokyo Olympics, helped lead the U.S. to the bronze medal at the Paris Games with a heart-stopping finish in a 14-12 victory over Australia. The bronze medal match ended with Alex “Spiff” Sedrick scoring on a length-of-the-field try as time expired, then putting a kick through the uprights.

Maher's tear-filled interview after the match was enough to make any American want to run through a wall for the 27-year-old Vermont native who has both a nursing degree and a masters in business but really just wants to play rugby and promote the sport to girls across the world.

“I think the stereotype around a rugby player is this idea that you need to drop your femininity and play a very masculine, brutal sport,” Maher said Wednesday, a day after the medal match. "Myself and my team and some others on the circuit like Australia and Ireland, are showing that femininity. We are doing our makeup before games, wearing makeup, wanting to feel pretty out there.

“But that doesn't take away from how amazing we tackle and hit and run. You can be those things, and the stereotypes around women's sports just should be thrown out the window now.”

Maher, who uses the the hashtag #beastbeautybrains on social media, became the most-followed rugby player on Instagram during these Games with 2 million followers. She has 1.9 million followers on TikTok.

She has continued to document life at the Olympics and called the Athlete's Village “The Villa” in a nod to “Love Island” (she watches the British version, and thinks she could be on the show but “would be bumped off"). But her biggest impact has been her messages of body positivity and a two-month-old post resurfaced this week in which she clapped-back at a commenter who mocked her for having a body mass index (BMI) of 30.

“I think you were trying to roast me, but this actually is a fact. I do have a BMI of 30 — well, 29.3 to be more exact,” Maher said on TikTok. “I’ve been considered overweight my whole life.”

She revealed she weighs 200 pounds (90 kilograms) and is 5-foot-10 (178 centimeters): the two measurements used to calculate BMI. A BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered in the overweight range, and a BMI of 30 and above is considered obese.

Maher said she was humiliated by the label, particularly when she turned in paperwork from a high school physical that labeled her overweight.

“I was so embarrassed to turn that in and have that written there,” Maher said in the TikTok. “My whole life, I’ve been this way.”

She said she was surprised that “body-positive posts posted months, a couple of years ago, weeks ago" have resurfaced, but that its an important message for her to deliver.

“It's just like I always preach, and it is really important for me to constantly preach because the message never stops and young girls have to be like, ‘Oh, man, OK, I feel great about my body,'" she said. “I love it. It has to be a constant stream. I think there's this idea about what female athletes are and this need to be lean and fit. But, no, there's athletes of all shapes and sizes competing at the Olympics.”

Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s director of women’s rugby, said Maher is an “unprecedented” athlete who will help rugby grow.

“She’s not following anyone. She is leading the way,” Horrox told The Associated Press. "That profile in the States and her global profile growing, that will do wonders for rugby and for women’s sport. She speaks so powerfully about what rugby has done for her in terms of body self-confidence, body image, opportunity and she wants that for girls, in particular, and if it happens to be rugby, great.

"But she’ll talk about that purpose and the value of sport and health and lifestyle, and she’ll do that outside of the rugby arena. I’m really impressed, and she should be very proud of what she’s doing.”

Her teammates all share the same passion for Maher's messaging. Sammy Sullivan, who took up rugby at West Point, where she graduated in 2020 and is an active Army captain, said the biggest stereotype women rugby players have to fight is that they can't be girly girls.

“People see us as having a lack of femininity, and I think it's the complete opposite,” Sullivan said. “I think strength and power and aggression can be feminine and can be beautiful if you want it to be. Our team is the epitome of that. All of us show our femininity in different ways and that's something beautiful behind the women of U.S. rugby.”

It's worked for Maher, who said Wednesday she hopes to play in Los Angeles in 2028. She now has a bronze medal and will be seeking gold — and to continue shutting down the critics of her body, like she ended her video message.

“I'm going to the Olympics,” she said. “And you're not.”

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AP Sports Writer John Pye contributed to this report.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games