Ilona Maher is the Olympic athlete-creator whisperer. She’s managed to entrance and invite online viewers into the sports world so naturally, large corporations trying to do the same can only dream about doing it with such finesse. Like many people, we first came across Maher during the 2021 Olympic cycle, her videos going viral inside the Olympic Village.
Now, she’s back again at the 2024 Paris Olympics, giving everyone exactly what they want to see. From her focus on body inclusivity to her creation of the Olympic Villa bit everyone is now playing into, Maher is massively shaping Olympic content.
Maher is originally from Vermont and grew up playing sports. She attended Norwich University for a year before transferring to Quinnipiac University to continue her rugby career. While at QU she won three championships in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association and was named to the NIRA All-American team all three years, and in 2017 received the MA Sorensen Award, given to the nation's top collegiate women's rugby player. While in college, she was selected for the United States national rugby team and made her debut in 2018, playing at a Women's SVNS tournament in Paris.
Now, Maher is appearing in her second Olympic games and most of the internet is along for the ride. We caught up with Maher at the Team USA Summit, where we talked about social media, growing the game of rugby, and her advice for anyone hoping to become an Olympian one day.
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What would be your advice to younger people hoping to compete at the Olympic level one day?
Ilona Maher: I think it would be to first off, get out there, do whatever it is you want to do — whatever sport it is just go try it. I was always a big fan of trying many sports out. You want to play a sport that you’ll continue to love and that you won’t grow tired of. I think that’s really important. People who played a sport from an early age can get sick of it, so I always say to try out as many sports that you love and then you can really specialise down the line. But keep the love for it and make sure you have things outside of it that make it feel worth it.
And on the flip side, what’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
My school basketball coach, he almost always said this, but we were on the line one day during practice and he said, “I saw a quote in the newspaper that said: Respect all, fear none.” And that became our quote of the season. It’s really stuck with me.
What does a “winner's mindset” mean to you?
I don’t know if I have that. (She laughs) I think it means that you're prepared to do whatever it takes to win. In my sport, you’re prepared to chase back that tackle even though you're dog-tired. You’re prepared to put your body on the line and make that tackle because that is what your team needs.
How do you handle stress as a professional athlete?
I find ways to decompress. Sometimes it's reading or even talking to my sister, my mom or my best friend. Having them and talking to them is a great way to relieve stress, like I can almost put the stress on somebody else, but not in a bad way. Having support is really important. And then also just like separating myself from rugby. It's such a stressful environment, so if I can have moments where I can just get out of it and take it away, that’s really important to me.
Is there anything you're most proud of right now in your career?
I think I'm really proud of what I've been able to do with social media, in terms of building my own career up. You almost can’t even think of rugby as a career at times, especially for women across a lot of sports. You can’t think of sports as a career. I'm not making millions and can retire, you know, at 30 and be fine. Social media is almost making it so I can think of rugby and sports as a career for myself, which is really cool.
I first came across you from social media during the Tokyo Olympics and your viral content. What is it like to get to have this social media presence and now have people following you that wouldn’t necessarily know about rugby before you began posting?
It's really important for me because we are trying to grow the game of rugby in the US and in the world, but especially in America. People don't know about us, but when they see a TikTok of me, they think, “Hey, what is this? I want to learn a little more.” And then they tune in or try to play it themselves. It's been a great tool to get myself, my team, and my sport out there.
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After everything you’ve learned so far, is there anything you would go back and tell your younger self?
I think I would say that all of those moments that you don't understand, or that weren’t fun, the experiences that were tough will lead to something. There's a reason for them to happen. So just stick with it.
Lastly, do you have a favourite celebration meal?
I like that you called it a celebration meal. Somebody tried to call it a cheat meal and I was like I don't really have cheat meals. A celebration meal is, you know, after rugby we have a culture of going out and meeting people, so after that I think it's like going out hanging with other players. Yes it’s people you're on the field competing against, but you have a drink with them and then it's getting McDonald's or eating pizza in the lobby of your hotel chatting to the players from all over the world.
This interview was originally published on Teen Vogue.
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