Ilona Maher, a member of the U.S. women's rugby team that incredibly won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, can now add the honor of being a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model to her list of accolades.
Maher appeared on the cover of the magazine's digital September issue with her medal in hand.
“I was always told I was masculine or whatever,” Maher says. He told SI“But I've never thought of it that way. But I don't think it's possible to bully a girl so angry that you can punch her. That's a good thing.” [rugby] It showed me what I could do, how capable my body was, and that it wasn't just a tool to be looked at and objectified.”
Maher's social media following has skyrocketed since the Olympics began, and she now has 2.3 million followers on TikTok.
Last month, she hit back at a troll on the platform who commented: “I think that person's BMI is 30%.”
“Hey, thanks for your comment. I thought you were trying to make fun of me but this is true.” Maher says: I replied, “My BMI is 30. 29.3 to be exact.”
“My whole life I've been considered overweight. Middle school, elementary school, high school, I was always considered overweight.”
She continued that while conventional standards would classify her as overweight, she had proof that she was a real athlete.
“Like I said, I'm 5'10″, weigh 200 pounds, and have approximately 170 pounds of lean body mass. These are estimates. Do the math in your head. It's probably impossible,” Maher continued in the video.
“That's pretty crazy, right? BMI doesn't tell me what I can do, what I'll do on the field, how healthy I am. It's just some numbers put together. It doesn't tell me how much muscle I have or anything. So yeah, my BMI is 30. I'm considered overweight.
“But the sad thing is, I'm going to the Olympics and you're not,” Maher concluded.
