Ten issues you must know concerning the USA worldwide

Ilona Maher has been one of many stars of the US Olympics Rugby Sevens crew on the aspect’s strategy to the semi-finals of the event. She’s additionally been one of many breakout stars of Paris 2024, together with her mastery of social media serving to her to overhaul Siya Kolisi and Sonny Invoice Williams to grow to be the world’s most adopted participant on Instagram and TikTok.

Right here’s the whole lot it’s good to know concerning the USA sevens and XVs star – and don’t overlook you may watch her within the ultimate phases of the ladies’s Olympics Rugby Sevens as we speak.

10 issues you must find out about Ilona Maher

1. Ilona Maher was born on 12 August 1996 in Burlington, Vermont. Whereas her father performed rugby for close by Saint Michael’s Faculty, Ilona performed hockey, basketball and softball in her college days, solely taking over the oval ball recreation at 17.

2. Maher received three Nationwide Intercollegiate Rugby Affiliation titles enjoying for Quinnipiac College, the place she studied nursing. In 2017 she received the MA Sorenson Award, offered to the perfect ladies’s faculty rugby participant.

3. Maher made her USA debut on the France Sevens within the 2017/18 season, the place the Eagles completed fifth. Within the following 12 months’s World Sevens Sequence, she scored 14 tries, serving to her aspect to an all-time-best second place within the event.

4. Maher was a part of the US Olympics Rugby Sevens crew at Tokyo 2020, scoring three tries en path to the crew’s sixth-place end.

5. She additionally grew to become a TikTok sensation at an Olympics Video games disrupted by Covid-19. With contact with different athletes and followers severely restricted in Tokyo, her brief sketches and behind-the-scenes movies from the Olympic village turned her right into a sporting famous person for the social media age.

6. Maher made her USA XVs debut off the bench in opposition to Canada in November 2021, earlier than making her first begin on the wing later that month.

7. Maher has as soon as once more been a star in for the ladies’s Olympics Rugby Sevens crew at Paris 2024, scoring one other three tries to assist her crew attain a semi-final in opposition to reigning champions New Zealand.

8. Regardless of the outcome on the Stade de France, she has topped not less than one podium this summer season, changing into probably the most adopted rugby participant on this planet on social media. Over the course of Olympics she’s reached 1.7 million followers on Instagram, surpassing Siya Kolisi (1.3 million), Sonny Invoice Williams (1.3 million) and Antoine Dupont (1.0 million). She additionally has 1.7 million followers on TikTok. No person can say that success isn’t hard-earned, nevertheless: she says she spends as much as six hours a day on TikTok!

9. A lot of her posts promote optimistic physique picture. So, alongside her encounters with celebrities such Snoop Dogg, tennis star Coco Gauff and American soccer participant Jason (brother of Travis) Kelce, Maher tries to make use of her platform for good.

“All physique varieties matter,” she stated in the beginning of the Olympics. “All physique varieties are worthy, from the smallest gymnast to the tallest volleyball participant, from a rugby participant to a shot-putter and a sprinter. All physique varieties are stunning and might do wonderful issues. So actually see your self in these athletes and know that you are able to do it too.”

10. Maher has promotional offers with Secret deodorant, L’Oreal cosmetics and New Period headwear. She has additionally joined forces with former swimmer Ann Ragan Kearns for a skincare line known as Medalist.

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