olympic Ilona Maher has some choice words for anyone who claims she “looks pregnant” in her tight dress.
“A guy recently commented on a photo of me and said, ‘You look pregnant in that dress.’ And he deleted his comment because I had such a big comeback, but I wanted to do it again for everyone,” Maher, 29, said in a video shared through TikTok on Saturday January 10.
“So to him I say, this is just a normal woman’s body,” the Olympian continued in the post, as she flashed a skin-tight orange dress that showed off her arms and hugged her curves. “You probably haven’t seen a naked woman in a long time, if ever, and I hope you don’t get the privilege again.”
She added: “Because that’s who we are, okay? That’s what we’re working on. Me? A professional athlete. I always have that. It’s just a part of me — I’m absorbing it right now and I have it. So please stop commenting on the stupidest things.”
Mike Coppola/Getty Images Olympian Ilona Maher has impressed with her rugby prowess and her online catches. Maher, 27, started playing rugby in high school before making a name for herself as a college athlete. She finally caught the attention of coaches Richie Walker and Emilie Bydwell, who chose her to join (…)
Maher, who helped the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team win bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the country’s first Olympic medal in rugby sevens, is no stranger to people making unwarranted, unwanted and unnecessary comments about her body and general appearance.
“I was always called, you know, masculine or whatever,” Maher said Sports Illustrated in her 2024 cover story. “But I’ve never felt that way. But I don’t think you’re going to bully the girl who could probably beat you up in anger. I love that (rugby) showed me what I can do. It showed me how capable my body is and it’s not just a tool to be looked at and objectified.”
Maher opened up even more exclusively Us Weekly about her take on body positivity amid a sea of online trolls, explaining how she still sees her body and what it can – and does – do for her.
@ilonamaher It’s too important a message not to share again.
“(It’s) realizing what your body does for you and giving it the tools it needs to keep doing it,” the rugby player exclusively said. we earlier this month. “You’re not going to love your body all the time. (But) for a lot of us, that’s the size we’re supposed to be, and I think we have to accept that.”
Charlotte H. MarketPh.D., professor of psychology at Rutgers University and author of Body image book, broken by we exactly what Maher’s body-positive viewpoint means to fans and young female athletes alike.
Sports Illustrated/Ben Watts Ilona Maher was a sexy sight to behold as she posed on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. The Olympian, 28, graced us with her steamy photo shoot while appearing in the September digital issue of SI Swimsuit, commissioned by Maybelline, on Wednesday, August 28. Photographed by Ben Watts in Fire Island, New York, Maher showed (…)
“Maher doesn’t try to fit into the ideals of beauty that many of us feel compelled to,” Markey said. we earlier this month. “Their pride in their strength is wonderful to see. We need more messengers to say, ‘What is expected of me as a woman! I’m strong and tough and I don’t need to fit the mold.” The more people say that, the easier it is to believe us.”
Lexi KitePh.D. and co-author of More than a body: Your body is an instrument, not an ornamentok saying we Earlier this month, “Seeing women be powerful and strong and break free from the idea that we exist to be looked at is life-giving!”