"You are with the hottest, fittest people in the world": Ilona Maher on staying in the Olympic Village

Ilona Maher recently opened up about her experience at the Olympic Village in her new venture, The House of Maher. The rugby player manages the podcast channel alongside her siblings Olivia and Adrianna.

During their latest episode, the siblings talked about Ilona Maher's time at the Paris Olympics, where she contributed to a historic Olympic medal for the USA in the women's rugby sevens event. When asked about how she felt after interacting with multiple athletes at the Olympic village, the rugby player replied [15:30 onwards]:

"I imagine that there are for sure people who are you know, getting their rocks off. I think as it's called having fun in there, but also we're here to get a medal, like we're not here to really mess around too much."

The Olympic medalist also added that the athletes had a common purpose: representing their nation despite being with some of the "hottest and fittest people in the world".

"We're here to you know compete for our country, something that we've beeen dreaming about our whole lives. So there is that, you know, you are in a village with the hottest people in the world, the hottest, fittest people in the world," she added.

Ilona Maher will represent the USA in the Pacific Four Rugby 15s series against Canada, Japan, and Australia.

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Ilona Maher gets candid about being termed a 'rugby superstar'

Ilona Maher reveals her thoughts on being termed a 'rugby superstar' [Image Source: Getty]

Ilona Maher has often been hailed as a 'rugby superstar', which she has used to the best of her advantage, especially in promoting women's rugby. The 28-year-old Olympic medalist talked about her status, adding that she wants more individuals to participate in this sport.

In an interview with FanSide, Maher mentioned [6:46 onwards]:

"I can see the impact, but it also makes you hungry for more and that's why it also makes me hungry to get more girls to do it because could you imagine if it was like there was, like, three-four more me’s, 15 more me’s in this league, how much many seats would be filled, how many stand people would be watching our game. So that's why, I'm like, I love to be this Superstar, but at this time I want more. I'm tired. I need to go vacation and I need somebody else to be funny.”

Ilona Maher had recently played for the Bristol Bears at the Premiership Women's Rugby League for three months. She contributed in the Bears' journey to the semifinals, where they ultimately lost to the Gloucestershire Hartpury team.