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Meet Ilona Maher, USA’s rugby sevens star at Paris Games 2024 who recruited Jason Kelce as superfan
Ilona Maher is seen as a magnet for young female fans of rugby sevens that organisers hope to expand to new markets at the Paris Games 2024.
Ilona Maher became the talk of the town when the USA women’s rugby sevens team clinched the bronze medal on Tuesday. However, she has always had a strong social media presence and has advocated for women’s sports and body positivity through her Instagram posts.
Her breakout moment on the international stage came during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the pandemic. As part of Team USA, Maher captivated fans with her off-field personality. She gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at life in the Olympic Village through engaging and humorous social media videos. She became famous for her infectious enthusiasm and down-to-earth nature. Her social media presence turned her into a beloved figure because she connected with her fans in a genuine and relatable way.
ALSO READ: Catch HT's comprehensive coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics here
“People are always like, ‘You’re so unapologetically yourself,’" she told Olympics.com. “And I’m like, ‘What is everybody else doing out here?’ I don’t even try to be that. It’s just how I am. There are probably quotes about, ‘It’s so much easier just to be yourself than to be anybody else,’ so I never even thought about that. That’s just how I am.”
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Jason Kelce, the American football star and brother of Taylor Swift's boyfriend, wore a shirt adorned with Ilona Maher's face at the gymnastics team championship. The sportspersons also had a friendly hand wrestling game that Maher documented and posted on her social media.
Maher is also known for her signature red lipstick. She wears a bold red lip to every game to make a statement. In an interview with CBS, Maher revealed that her choice to don red lipstick is to "stick it to the man," and that she "refuses to let anyone define her femininity."
“It doesn’t take away from your athletic ability if you wear makeup. If you want to put on a full face of makeup to go tackle people, good on you if you’re doing it,” she said. “I feel that I can be a beast and can play this very physical aggressive sport but also keeping my femininity while I do it.”
