Ilone Maher is on a mission: an Olympic rugby medalist with the U.S. National Team representing her country and her sport, and a Dancing with the Stars DWTS contestant hoping to showcase her strong, feminine body.
Maher and the U.S. women’s rugby team won their first medal at the Paris Summer Olympics, a bronze medal.
Now she’s bringing her own persona and body to DWTS, hoping to showcase women who look like her.
“I think it just goes to show what I was trying to say, which is that female athletes are more than the sport and they’re more than the stereotypes that come with the sport,” Maher said at a recent DWTS press conference. According to Entertainment Weekly“It’s really amazing to be able to show how beautiful my body type is and how beautiful my body type can look in any space.”
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“That’s how you make noise!” Maher said shortly after the debut of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
During the Paris Olympics, Maher spoke about the pain the attacks on her and her body had caused her.
“People sometimes say I look masculine or that I’m on steroids,” Maher said at the time. “There are always going to be negative people out there who put women in a box. They think women should be delicate and small and quiet and submissive, and that’s not the case.”
Ilona Maher represents the best of women, with a strong will that refuses to give in to senseless attacks.
Though she isn’t LGBTQ (or at least not out), Outsports supports all that she is trying to accomplish for women.
Source: Outsports – www.outsports.com
