Staff Writer Polly Symes discusses the impact that USA Rugby 7s star Ilona Maher is having on body positivity for women in sport.
If I were to discuss a ‘woman in shape’, an ‘athletic woman’ or a ‘female sportsperson’, what sort of image would come to mind? Specifically, what sort of body would this woman have?
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that female sports players such as Ilona Maher would align with your subconscious what these women ‘should’ look like, despite being an athlete at the top of her game. Entering the global stage at the 2018 Paris Rugby Sevens tournament in a victorious match against Canada, Maher has since skyrocketed into public fame and is now the most followed rugby player in the world (her current Instagram following is 4.4M and counting). More recently, she represented Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as Paris 2024, where she claimed a bronze medal.
Ilona Maher began attracting public attention off the pitch via her social media content about rugby and women in sport. On the pitch, her choice to wear red lipstick during the matches in Paris instantly made her a player to remember, as she argued that “You don’t have to sacrifice your femininity to play any sport”. Since then, she has had brand deals with L’Oreal and a cover for Sports Illustrated, which described her as a “feminist trailblazer”.
More recently, Maher’s fame has grown due to her appearance in the 2024 season of Dancing With The Stars (the American equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing), in which she was paired with professional dancer Alan Bernstein. Here, she follows a long line of celebrity athletes to appear on the show, including household names such as Simone Biles. Throughout the series, Maher has posted candid videos on Instagram, talking through the process of training for the dances, why she decided to join the show, and her playful friendship with partner Alan Bernstein. Unsurprisingly, Maher has done well on the show, progressing to the finals through her skill and the unwavering support of her online fanbase.
Before the show began, the sport star admitted to being “very nervous” to step outside of her comfort zone, the rugby pitch. However, her desire to “take back the narrative” was more important. It was time to show female athletes that “keep getting put in a box” that they can truly do anything with their bodies.
In her choreography, Maher truly has done everything. Yes, we have seen the classics; whether it was her Week 5 Rumba, or the Viennese Waltz of the semi-finals, the audience has seen that powerful rugby players are more than able to show a soft, feminine side, and do so fantastically. However, we have also seen Maher carry off some groundbreaking shows of strength. On Disney Night, after popular demand, Maher and Bernstein performed a jazz routine to “Surface Pressure” from Encanto, which ended with Ilona lifting her partner onto her shoulders. And on Oscars Night, Ilona flipped her partner effortlessly during a Salsa to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing.
The public response has been nothing short of game-changing (excuse the pun). One Instagram user commented “You have single-handedly changed the narrative for women in sports and beauty”, another typing “This is the representation of femininity I’ve been waiting for since I was a child.” For too long, female fitness has been entangled with toxic diet culture, associated more with visuals than actual results. For too long, teenage girls have felt embarrassed to play sport for fear of ‘looking ugly’ or ‘sweating like a pig’. It is time that changed.
So, what is next for Ilona Maher? There are rumours that the rugby star will join an English Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) team, with the Telegraph circulating that she may be headed for Bristol Bears or Gloucester-Hartpury. This would be a notable career change, as her experience so far is in Rugby 7s, a faster-paced and more individualistic version of Rugby Union, compared to the more popular 15-a-side format of the PWR and the Rugby Union World Cup. However, this change does make sense in the context of the World Cup coming to England in 2025, as it would make her eligible to play for Team USA.
And as for the future of women in sport? As Maher has attested to, the public mindset needs to change. We need to make space for all bodies in women’s sport, and at the forefront of this campaign are inspirational people like Ilona Maher, who champion engagement in sport, and body positivity, for everyone.
Second-year undergraduate at King’s College London reading Culture, Media and Creative Industries.
