Olympics Star Ilona Maher Wears Lipstick on Rugby Pitch to Buck Stereotypes That It's a 'Man's Sport' (Exclusive)

Team USA star Ilona Maher is known for blushing, both on and off the court.

The newly minted bronze medalist, 27, even included her penchant for glamor in her Instagram bio: “Probably wears lipstick.”

For Maher, maintaining a sense of glamor amid the rough and tumble of rugby is a valuable habit.

“I think it’s important to me because rugby has always been seen as a very masculine sport, and [fans] they stereotype the people who play it,” she tells PEOPLE at the P&G House in Paris. “I think that me and all the girls who play sevens and fifteens are really breaking that stereotype.”

Maher, who has teamed up with Secret Outlast deodorant to help her stay fresh on the pitch, says looking and feeling her best while competing is another way she fights societal stereotypes about women’s rugby.

“We wear makeup because we want to wear it and it makes us feel good, and I think we’re showing that it doesn’t affect our game on the court,” she says. “My lipstick doesn’t affect how hard I hit, how I read the game, how I run. It’s just something we’re doing to kind of say ‘F you’ to those standards in what’s considered a man’s sport.”

Ilona Maher Vows Her Viral Internet Presence Is ‘Exactly Who I Am in Real Life’ (Exclusive)

Ilone Maher wears red lipstick.

Courtesy of Secret

The athlete, who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics with her rugby sevens team on July 30, has long used her platform, which now has more than 3 million followers, to break down stereotypes surrounding sports and expectations of female athletes; last month she deleted a commenter on TikTok who criticized her weight.

Ilona Maher.

Cameron Spencer/Getty

“It’s important to me because I’ve come to a place where I’m pretty accepting of my body and I appreciate it, but I know a lot of girls aren’t in that place, and it’s nice to see someone who is,” she says. see one video about BMI and feel really good, but then three videos down are something that makes them feel bad. I did videos about cellulite, BMI, about being called a man. It’s important to me that they never be just one thing and that’s it.”

Maher also stresses the importance of having a strong support system to do her best, which for her includes her parents, her two sisters, and yes, Secret, which released an ad featuring Maher and her co-stars in June.

American rugby star Ilona Maher harshly criticizes her body: ‘BMI doesn’t tell you what you can do’

“They would have recognized us even if we hadn’t won a medal,” she says. “For them to want to do that, whether we won or not, they saw value in us and believed in us.”

Maher says he hopes young girls will see the ad and be encouraged to try rugby.

“I hope they say, ‘What is that? What are they doing there?’ ” she says. “And then maybe like, ‘Mom, what’s going on over there? I’d kind of like to try that.’ ”

To find out more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com and check out the live coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympic newsletter, to deliver the biggest stories from the Games straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics starting July 26 on NBC and Peacock.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education