Olympian Ilona Maher Can't Keep Up With DMs, Wants Letters Instead

Team USA rugby star has been feeling the love while competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“I’m going to be honest, I get so many DM slides that — and it’s not a lot of even people who are into me — it’s just nice messages,” Maher, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly. “So maybe they’re in there. I don’t know.”

Overwhelmed with her inbox, Maher suggested fans and potential love interests alike take up a different route to reach her.

“I get so many, I can’t sort through it,” she said. “So if you are [interested], please, I don’t know, find a better way. Send me a letter or something. Send a pigeon my way.”

Related: What Athletes Have Said About Hooking Up in the Olympic Village Through the Year...Every two years, the summer or winter Olympics bring together the best athletes in the world to compete in the same city and live in the same Olympic village. They’re usually 20-somethings in peak physical fitness, forced into close proximity amid a high-stress, high-stakes environment. It’s ripe for extracurricular activities. In fact, People reports that […]

Maher, who previously compared the Olympic Village to the Love Island villa, noted that she didn’t have time to date around. After all, she was busy winning a bronze medal. (Maher and her teammates earned the U.S. its first Olympic medal in women’s rugby sevens on July 30.)

“You know what, everyone keeps asking me that after I won a medal and I was like, ‘This is a little busy people. Little busy here winning a medal,’” she said. “I haven’t, honestly, it has been truly crazy.”

Ilona Maher. Mike Coppola/Getty Images

If Maher hadn’t won a medal, she noted that maybe she’d have time to pursue romantic connections — but she wouldn’t want to rewrite history.

“I’d rather win a medal than go on a few dates in the Olympic villa,” she said. “I think people have to realize everyone else is competing in the villa as well, so it’s very hard to even meet people to go out and hang out with people. We’re all focused on our games and then once we win, maybe [we] can have some fun. So the Olympics isn’t done, but I’ve been a busy working girl.”

Related: Every Medal Team USA Won at the 2024 Paris OlympicsAs Team USA takes on the 2024 Paris Olympics, the American athletes have already made an impression at the summer Games. The 2024 Olympics kicked off on Friday, July 26, with an illustrious opening ceremony that took place entirely outdoors on the River Seine and featured performances from the likes of Celine Dion and Lady […]

When she’s not on the field, Maher is teaming up with Secret Outlast deodorant to create a rugby campaign alongside her teammates.

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“I think what really made me want to partner with Secret is that it was a team-minded thing as well. I love my teammates. I want to see my teammates succeed,” she explained. “So to have a brand like Secret want to create a rugby campaign that we’ve never seen before in the U.S. and also involve my teammates in showcase rugby in this light was so exciting for not only me, but I think all of USA rugby, my coaches [and] staff.”

Secret

Maher gushed that “it was so fun” to partner with a product she uses and trusts. “That was the main reason and I’m so happy I did,” she said.

With reporting by Mandie DeCamp

Olympian Ilona Maher Can't Keep Up With DMs, Wants Letters Instead

Olympian Ilona Maher Can't Keep Up With DMs, Wants Letters Instead

Olympian Ilona Maher Can't Keep Up With DMs, Wants Letters Instead

Olympian Ilona Maher Can't Keep Up With DMs, Wants Letters Instead

Olympian Ilona Maher Can't Keep Up With DMs, Wants Letters Instead