Olympian Ilona Maher knows how to have fun in Paris.
On Saturday, Aug. 3, the Team USA women’s rugby player and viral TikTok sensation, 27, took some time out of her Summer Olympicsschedule to try one of the local delicacies: a giant croissant.
In a video posted on her TikTok, which has more than 2 million followers, Maher sat at an outdoor table wearing a Team USA T-shirt and her Olympic bronze medal as she held the French baked treat in both hands.
“A light snack,” she wrote over the clip, which showed her taking a big bite from the corner of the croissant. The rugby star then chewed and let out a contented “mmmm” before going in for another bite from her snack.
“Just a little treat. Just something to get me going,” she said in the video.
Maher helped the Team USA rugby sevens team earn bronze in Paris, marking the first time the team has won an Olympic medal. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Maher was part of the team that finished in 6th place.
Maher’s giant croissant video is the latest food-centric Olympic content going viral on TikTok, following videos from “Olympic Muffin Man” Henrik Christiansen about the Olympic Village chocolate muffins as well as a video of Snoop Dogg and Cookie Monster surprising Martha Stewart with a cone-shaped cake made out of macarons for her 83rd birthday.
The rugby star — who grew up in Vermont and then played rugby at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut — continues to bring attention to her sport. At this year’s Olympics, she even attracted a recently retired NFL star to publicly state his fandom of the Team USA rugby sevens team.
In a viral TikTok posted in July, Maher approached Philadelphia Eagles alum Jason Kelce, 36, to see if he was a fan.
“Women’s water polo has Flavor Flav as their superfan,” she told Kelce as she tried to persuade him to become her team’s superfan. “You are a girl dad. Do you get anything from being our superfan? No. There’s no reward, no money, no benefits, I don’t think I can get you free stuff.”
“You’re a great salesman. I am officially a fan of women’s rugby, Olympics,” Kelce responded, with Maher quickly replying, “We got Jason Kelce!”
Staying true to his word, Kelce ended up wearing a shirt with Maher’s face on it at the team’s bronze medal match.
Maher’s other viral TikToks from the Olympics involve her trading custom pins with gymnastics star Simone Biles, her playfully attempting to relate to tennis star Coco Gauffby saying she once played pickleball and her trying to stay cool when temperatures rose in Paris.
“It’s very much off the cuff,” Maher explained in an exclusive interview. “It’s kind of like, my teammates say I say my jokes twice — once to them, and then once to the world, so it’s just riffing. Whatever I am online is how I am in real life.”
