2024 Olympic Rugby Star Ilona Maher Claps Back at Criticism About Her Weight

Team USA rugby player Ilona Maher is kicking negativity to the curb.

The 27-year-old—who will be returning to the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning hearts at the 2020 Summer Games—recently clapped back at criticism over how she's considered "overweight" on the mass body index (BMI) scale.

"I think you were trying to roast me, but this is actually fact: I do have a BMI of 30—well, 29.3 to be more exact," Ilona responded to one critic in a July 20 TikTok video. "I've been considered overweight my whole life."

However, she noted that BMI "just tells you what your height and weight and what that equals," instead of detailing about overall health or athleticism. 

"I chatted up with my dietitian because I go off of facts," Ilona shared. "We talked about BMI and how it really isn't helpful for athletes. BMI doesn't tell you much."

Ilona—who is 5-foot-10 and weighs around 200 pounds—went on to explain that while she would be considered "overweight" on the BMI scale, her measurement does not take into account how she has "about 170 pounds" of lean muscle on her body.

"That's pretty crazy, right?" she continued. "I am considered overweight. But alas, I'm going to the Olympics and you're not."

Ilona added in the caption of her post, "As long as haters keep saying dumb stuff, I’m gonna keep clapping back."

The Vermont native has been an outspoken voice for body positivity since making her Olympics debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Last year, she penned an open letter to girls and women "with the big shoulders," writing on Instagram, "You are not undesirable. You are not built like a linebacker. You are not manly. You are not unattractive."

"You are beautiful," Ilona continued, posting a photo of herself in a skin-tight, backless dress. "You are imposing. You are powerful. You are magnificent."

She added, "Put your shoulders back, wear your head high, and walk into any room like you own the place."

Of course, Ilona isn't the only athlete on Team USA. Keep reading to meet more breakout sport stars who'll be competing at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in history, full stop. But the 2016 all-around Olympic gold medalist has unfinished business to attend to in Paris after a case of the twisties prompted her to pull out of most events in Tokyo in 2021.

Representing Team USA alongside Biles are Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.

Longtime women's national soccer team goalie Alyssa Naeher has two World Cup titles, a slew of impressive stats and a big gap in her resume she'd love to fill with Paris gold after the squad's bronze showing in Tokyo.

Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson was supposed to make her Olympics debut in Tokyo but was sidelined after a positive marijuana test. Now the reigning world champion in the 100 meters, she's a favorite to torch the competition in Paris in her signature event.

Swimmer Katie Ledecky has 10 Olympic medals, seven of them gold, and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May. Competing in her fourth Games, the Stanford grad has a chance to become the first female swimmer to win gold four straight times if she dominates once again in the 800 meters. 

Olympic soccer requires the men's teams to be all 23-and-younger with three spots allowed for "overage" players—which is why veteran defender Walker Zimmerman thought his dream of playing on this stage ended when the U.S. men failed to qualify in 2016.

"Then as things materialized this year," the 31-year-old told the LA Times, "just getting the opportunity is amazing." 

"If you had asked me at the Trials in 2021 if I regretted coming out, I would have said yes," runner Nikki Hiltz told NBC Sports of coming out as trans and nonbinary not long before they failed to qualify for Tokyo. 

But Hiltz didn't give up—on their truth or their sport—winning U.S. indoor and outdoor titles in the 1500m in 2023, repeating the indoor feat in 2024 and running a field-leading 3:55.33 to take the women's 1500m at Trials on June 30.

"It's the last day of Pride Month," Hiltz told NBC Sports at the finish line, "and I wanted to run this one for my community."

Tennis champ Coco Gauff, winner of the 2023 U.S. Open, is ranked second in the world heading into Paris. The 20-year-old is making her Olympics debut after a positive COVID test dashed her plans for Tokyo.

Top-ranked in the U.S. and No. 2 in the world, B-boy Victor Montalvo is ready to turn the Olympics on its head as breaking makes its long-awaited debut at the Paris Games.

There's never only one superstar on the U.S. men's basketball team, but four-time NBA champion LeBron James is appearing in what will almost certainly be his last Olympics and he'll be one of Team USA's two designated flagbearers at the July 26 Opening Ceremony.

James told reporters he was "super-appreciative and-super humbled" by the honor.

There's nothing not badass about wheelchair rugby and Chuck Aoki has been a star of the U.S. Paralympic team since London in 2012. With a bronze and two silvers under his belt, winning gold in Paris would really complement his collection.

While Hunter Woodhall is not least known for being long-jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall's supportive other half, the University of Arkansas grad is also a sprinting machine. The two-time Paralympian—and first-ever double-amputee athlete to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship—heads to Paris having dominated in the men's T62 400m and T62 100m at Trials.

Two athletes, but a packaged set as far as beach volleyball is concerned. Louisiana State alums and best friends Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss hadn't even turned pro yet when, in April 2021, Nuss gifted Kloth an ankle bracelet for her birthday inscribed with "August 11, 2024."

If you're guessing that's the date of the women's finals at the Paris Olympics, you are correct.

Six-time Paralympian Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine in 1989 with radiation-related birth defects—including webbed fingers and tibial malformation—connected to the Chernobyl disaster. Growing up in Louisville, Ky., with adoptive mom Gay Masters, she underwent a number of surgeries, including respective leg amputations at 9 and 14—after which she took up rowing.

But sun, snow... It's all the same for the seven-time gold medalist, who has three Winter Paralympics as a para-cross-country skier and para-biathlete and three Summer Paralympics as a para-cyclist and para-rower under her belt heading into Paris, where she'll compete in cycling events.

After finishing just shy of the podium in Tokyo, surfer Caroline Marks is ready to ride her 2023 world title to Olympic victory in... Well, not Paris. All of the surfing will be taking place at Teahupo'o on Tahiti, nearly 10,000 miles away from the rest of the festivities.

Swimmer Jessica Long, whose Instagram bio reads "Born without legs + living my best life," is headed to her sixth Paralympics. The 29-time medalist, 16 of them gold, is pretty much just racing for bragging rights at this point. 

Las Vegas Aces, um, ace and two-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson will be leading the U.S. women's basketball team in their quest for their eighth straight gold medal. (The men are looking for only their fifth straight, having been vanquished in 2004.)

Butterfly and freestylin' fool Caeleb Dressel won five gold medals in Tokyo, no big deal, to bring his career Olympic gold tally to seven. Paris will be the swimmer's third Games and first as a dad, having welcomed son August Wilder Dressel with wife Meghan Dressel in February. 

After Jessica Parratto earned a silver medal in Tokyo for women's synchronized 10m platform with partner Delaney Schnell—Team USA's first-ever medal in that event—the 5-foot-2 athlete retired to, as she told NBC Sports, "finally be a normal person."

She did that for, like, a year until Schnell wooed her back into the pool. But to be clear, Parratto said of her return before they qualified for Paris, "I didn’t do it because she wanted me to. I really did it because I wanted to."

But she doesn't mind the camaraderie, either. When Schnell banged her feet at the Montreal Diving World Cup in May, Parratto's first international event back from retirement, "it was a really good bonding moment for us," she said, "and just being like, okay, we got this."

The U.S. men do gymnastics, too, and Fred Richard was the top scorer on both nights of the 2024 Olympic Trials. Obviously fans will flip if the 2023 NCAA all-around (and horizontal bars, and parallel bars) champion from University of Michigan helps the national team make an Olympic podium for the first time since 2008.

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