American Rugby Star Is Also a Social Media Sensation

On Tuesday, Ilona Maher helped lead the US women's rugby team to its first-ever Olympic medal, clinching bronze with its win over Australia. But the 27-year-old was a social media star long before that, and now the team win is bringing her even more attention. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Maher had 2 million TikTok and Instagram followers before the Paris games began, with her online fame dating back to the Tokyo Olympics, when she made popular videos documenting life at the athletes' village. Since then, she's continued promoting her sport—which hasn't been as well-known in the US as it is in other places—as well as another cause dear to her heart: body positivity. Some examples:

• As People reports, when a commenter on one of her videos said her BMI must be 30%, Maher responded with a new video. "Hi, thank you for this comment. I think you were trying to roast me, but this is actually a fact. I do have a BMI of 30. Well, 29.3 to be exact," she said before launching into an epic takedown. "BMI doesn't tell you what I can do. It doesn't tell you what I can do on the field. How fit I am. It's just a couple of numbers put together. It doesn't tell you how much muscle I have, or anything like that," she said, concluding with, "Alas, I'm going to the Olympics—and you're not."
• As Today reported earlier this year, she's also taken on cellulite. "I'm a literal Olympian. I'm a professional athlete. I run all day long. I lift weights all day long, constantly. And that is what my legs look like," she said in a video showing a picture of herself on the field. "I have cellulite everywhere. It is completely normal, completely natural. It doesn't not take away from your athletic ability or how fast or how fit you are. It's just something that's part of your body. We all have it."

Maher also happens to "play like an NFL running back," per the Journal profile. As she tells the paper, "You can be feminine on the field. You can feel beautiful. You can go stiff-arm and tackle people." (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)