Even if you’re not a rugby fan, you probably know the name Ilona Maher: The center for USA’s Women’s Eagles Sevens has racked up over one million followers on TikTok, where she does everything from sharing inside looks into pro sports (who can forget her poking fun at the infamous “anti-sex” beds in Tokyo’s Olympic Village?) to putting female beauty standards on blast. (Case in point: posting a photo of her own cellulite to prove “we all have it.”) And if you hadn’t heard of her before, you may well soon: She’s set to represent the US once again on the biggest athletic stage in the world.
Three years after she made her Team USA debut at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Maher is preparing for another round of Games. When she spoke to SELF in late May, she and her teammates were playing their last tournament of the season—in sunny Madrid—before they’d head home to kick their Olympics training into high gear. Less than a month later, on June 17, the official women’s rugby sevens roster was announced—and Maher was on it. Soon, the team will fly to France to spend a week at a pre-Olympic training camp in Tours, a city a few hours’ drive from Paris. “This helps you acclimate to the time difference, the weather,” Maher says. Then, it’ll be on to the City of Light to rub shoulders with the rest of the world’s top rugby athletes. Read more …
Self.com