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History at Paris Games: Ilona Maher’s Olympic medal is a win for rugby
By Finn Morton
Ilona Maher was overcome with emotion on Tuesday as she was presented with an Olympic bronze medal. The USA had just stunned Australia 14-12 with a last-gasp try to win the nation’s first-ever medal for rugby sevens at an Olympic Games.
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Tears of joy streamed down Maher’s face in a moment that has been immortalised on social media. Maher is the queen of rugby on Instagram and TikTok, and that popularity has drawn new fans to the sport.
This writer has seen several videos of Americans, who claim to know nothing about rugby, that’ve been left crying themselves just because of the funny and inspirational person that Maher is, combined with what the American managed to achieve at the Games.
There are also a fair number of videos of fans filming Maher on their TVs while playing Chappel Roan’s song ‘Femininomenon’ over it – a title that combines both the words feminine and phenomenon.
New fans might not understand all of the rules yet but they know who Ilona Maher is.
That makes this bronze not just a win for Maher, her teammates or even the USA.
This is a win for rugby.
Three years ago at Tokyo Stadium, the USA were knocked out of medal contention after losing 21-12 to Great Britain in the quarter-finals. Maher would later say in a TEDx Talk that “my dream was dashed in one 14-minute game at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.”
Team USA had topped their pool at those Games after a nail-biting win over competition heavyweights Australia, but they couldn’t maintain that level of excellence when it counted. Maher has since spoken multiple times about how much that loss hurt.
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“Like every Olympian, we wanted gold or nothing else, but the reality is only around 11 per cent of Olympians actually win a medal. Those 11 per cent are praised in the papers, blasted on our TVs with tears of joy and labelled national heroes,” Maher said in that TEDx Talk.
Well, that’s exactly what Ilona Maher came on July 30, 2024: a ‘hero’ for many.
@theglobaladventurist CRYING the women’s Olympic Rugby was incredible to watch! Congratulations to everyone who played their heart out on the pitch. The fan base is growing and I am personally so inspirted by these athletes! @Ilona Maher you should be so proud of yourself. We were crying too! @Rugby Canada SO IMPRESSIVE GIRLS @USA Rugby FIRST MEDAL EVER @Black Ferns WE LOVE YOU #womensrugby #olympics #usarugby #canadarugby #blackfernsrugby #rugby7s #ilonamaher #rugbywomen #olympicmedalist #canadarugby7s #blackferns7s #newzealandrugby #olympicathletes #womenssports ? John Williams: Olympic Fanfare – Cincinnati Pops Orchestra & Erich Kunzel
Maher isn’t just a trailblazer for American and women’s rugby on the field. The talented athlete is also a much-loved social media star who releases candid and funny videos which really began at the Tokyo Games.
Many rugby fans and social media users were first introduced to Maher’s charm and message of body positivity at the Olympics. As the American later told the Guardian, she took fans behind the scenes of the Games to encourage people to “tune in to our sport.”
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It’s safe to say that worked.
Those videos at the Olympics were the start of something special.
Maher became the face of American rugby on social media and that support has since grown to record-breaking heights.
In the lead-up to the women’s sevens in Paris, Maher eclipsed the likes of two-time men’s Rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi and France’s Antoine Dupont as the most followed rugby player on Instagram.
The 27-year-old has reached 2.2 million followers on Instagram and 1.9 million on TikTok. If the trend of the last week is anything to go by, those numbers will continue to rise to even greater levels in the wake of the USA’s bronze medal triumph.
“Ilona is without a doubt a superstar of these games. Full stop,” World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin told AFP.
“She is rugby’s most followed athlete, has a following that’s greater than most, if not all of the household names in Paris, and attracted an extra 300,000 Instagram and 100,000 TikTok followers overnight.”
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Maher has released TikToks with Snoop Dogg and former Philadelphia Eagles centre Jason Kelce – the brother of Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce – over the last week before taking the field and helping the USA claim bronze.
Fans have been along for the ride this week on the USA’s emotional rollercoaster to that thrilling win over Australia. It’s a journey that has left a lot of Americans wanting more from Maher and rugby sevens moving forward.
With Maher leading the way, the USA started things off with wins over Japan and Brazil before falling to in-form hosts France. But they had still done enough to move on to the quarter-finals where they played Great Britain.
After winning that knockout clash 17-7, it wouldn’t get any easier.
Reigning Olympic gold medallists New Zealand were waiting.
It was a fair scrap for a while with the underdogs putting up a fight against their more-fancied Kiwi opponents, but eventually the New Zealanders ran away with it to book their place in the decider.
But the USA’s Olympic dream wasn’t over.
The USA would have one more chance to win an Olympic medal in sevens, but with Canada stunning Australia in the other semi-final, they’d have to do it the hard way against the SVNS Series champions.
Australia scored first through try-scoring phenomenon Maddison Levi but the USA struck back just before half-time through Alev Kelter. Levi completed a double later in the match to seemingly steal it with two minutes to play – but the Americans had one last miracle left in them.
Maher drew in a few defenders after carrying the ball into contact well inside her own 22. But in the very next phase, Alex Sedrick did something so special that it’ll be replayed by American rugby fans forever.
Sedrick was swarmed by a few Australian defenders before somehow bumping them all off. The eventual try scorer ended up running to the house to level the scores, with the conversion securing the medal for Team USA.
That victory captured the attention of a sporting-mad nation.
Former Indianapolis Colts punter turned NFL pundit Pat McAfee watched Sedrick’s try and, quite hilariously, commentated over the history-making score.
“Clock ticking, Australia celebrating. ‘We just beat the dumb Americans. We’re going home with a bronze.’ Nuh-uh, nuh-uh,” McAfee exclaimed on the Pat McAfee show.
“All you need is to break one and she is gone. Touchdown America.
“And then we kick the field goal to win this. Oh no, heartbreak Australia. We did it. We won third place.”
That capped off an incredible week of Ilona Maher.
After becoming the most followed rugby player on Instagram, and leading the USA to an Olympic medal three years on from the heartbreak of Tokyo, this was Maher’s moment.
With a microphone in her hand and a packed-house Stade de France around her, the 27-year-old shared a message that all of her TikToks, Instagram videos, and even that TEDx Talk point towards: being herself while growing the game.
“I hope it means 66,000 fans in all stadiums, not just this one but everywhere we go,” Maher said after the win over Australia.
“I hope this means more money and funding for us because we deserve it.
“I hope this means more girls in the US trying out rugby and seeing what it can do for them.”
Maher was already able to introduce new fans to rugby before winning that bronze medal, but the lipstick-wearing American’s popularity is now soaring higher and higher.
One TikTok of Maher proudly showing off her bronze medal at the Olympics’ Champions Park has almost 180,000 likes in less than seven hours.
More and more people, especially in America, and learning about rugby every day thanks to Ilona Maher’s individual success on social media. That makes this bronze medal not only a win for the USA but a triumph for rugby as well.
What a legend. Incredible player. And champion of rugby for all, but especially women. Utmost respect.