Ilona Maher: 5 Things to Know About the U.S. Women’s Rugby Player & Breakout TikTok Star

Ilona Maher has taken over the rugby world — and social media! The Olympian has gone viral for her athletic career and her candid TikTok videos. With millions of followers on her TikTok and Instagram accounts, the 27-year-old athlete has become the latest icon of the Paris Olympics.

“I knew that if I kept this up, got people watching me on TikTok, they’d also tune in to my sport,” she told NBC News in an interview.

Below are five facts about the women’s sevens rugby player.

Ilona Began Playing Rugby at 17

In high school, Ilona played for the South Burlington School Rugby Football Club. Previously, she played multiple sports while attending Burlington High School, including basketball and soccer.

Never tone it down. Take up space. Be yourself. Love, Ilona.

She Competed in the Tokyo and Paris Olympics

In 2021, the athlete competed in the Tokyo Olympics, which had been pushed back by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While competing in Tokyo, Ilona made several social media videos about her time in the Olympic village. Among her most popular clips featured her joking about flirting with other Olympians, doing burpees on the cardboard beds and more.

In 2024, Ilona returned to the Olympic stage in Paris, competing for the women’s sevens team.

Ilona Studied Nursing in College

The Burlington, Vermont, native attended Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she studied nursing. She graduated in 2018.

She Has a Master’s Degree

Four years after completing her undergraduate degree in nursing, Ilona studied business administration at DeVry University for her master’s degree.

How She Went Viral on TikTok

Although Ilona is known for her witty candidness throughout her social media videos, her focus on body positivity has attracted more support. While opening up about body-shaming in a 2022 TikTok video, the rug player said through tears, “There will always be negative people out there and they put women in a box, and they think women should be fragile and petite and quiet and meek, but that’s not the case. Women can be strong, and they can have broad shoulders and they can take up space and they can be big.”

The viral video’s caption encouraged women to, “Never tone it down. Take up space. Be yourself.”