U.S. Olympic hero strips down for SI Swimsuit shoot with her medal

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After going viral at the Olympics in Paris this summer and then winning a medal, Ilona Maher is making waves once again.

The U.S. rugby who helped lead the team to an improbable bronze medal is adding another claim to fame: SI Swimsuit cover model.

Maher posed with the medal for the outlet’s digital September issue and is featured on the cover.

“At just 28 years old, Ilona Maher has already made a name for herself both on and off the rugby field,” SI Swimsuit posted on Instagram with the cover shot. “The Vermont native, who led Team USA to its first bronze #Olympic medal in rugby sevens at the Paris games earlier this summer, is breaking the stereotype of what it means to be a female athlete.”

The tagline reads “Beast, Beauty, Brains.” and features Maher in a dark maroon two-piece bikini while standing on a dock.

“I was always like, you know, called masculine or whatever,” Maher told SI. “But I never felt that way. But I don’t think you’re going to bully the girl who could probably beat you up in a rage. I love that (rugby) showed me what I can do. It showed me how capable my body is and it’s not just like a tool to be looked at and objectified.”

Maher has been a hit on social media, sharing several clips while she was in Paris for the Summer Games. Since the Olympics, she has seen her follower count rise and now boasts more than 6.1 million across Instagram and TikTok.

Last month, before the rugby star left for the Games, she fired back at an online troll who commented, “I bet that person has a 30% BMI.”

“Hi, thank you for this comment. I think you were trying to roast me, but this is actually a fact,” Maher said in a video response. “I do have a BMI of 30. Well, 29.3 to be exact.

“I’ve been considered overweight my whole life. In middle school, elementary school, high school, I was always considered overweight.

“I’ve said it before, I’m 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, and I have about — and this is an estimate — about 170 pounds of lean mass on me. Do that math in your head. You probably can’t,” Maher added.

“That’s pretty crazy, right? And that BMI doesn’t really tell you what I can do; It doesn’t tell you what I do on the field; How fit I am. It’s just a couple of numbers put together. It doesn’t tell you how much muscle I have, or anything like that. So yeah, I do have a BMI of 30. I am considered overweight.

“But alas, I’m going to the Olympics — and you’re not,” Maher concluded.

After taking home a bronze medal, we think Maher has silenced her critics.