Olympian forced to hit back at trolls who try to fat shame her online

American Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher has fired back at online trolls who have criticised her weight, claiming she will always “stand up for herself”.

At 27, Ilona is a proud member of the USA’s rugby union team competing in the Paris Olympic games this week. The formidable team outplayed Great Britain at Stade de France on Monday (July 29).

But while excitement soars as fans focus on the Olympic battles, a few keyboard warriors have targeted Ilona’s social media with a barrage of body-shaming comments. Boasting ever resilient qualities befitting a rugby player, Ilona refuses to bow down without a fight.

In a staunch retort, she took to educating the misguided detractors about the inadequacy of body mass index (BMI) as a health indicator for athletes like herself. Her response video, which attracted over 660,000 likes, features her addressing a troll’s comment suggesting she has a 30% BMI.

She recounted: “I’ve been considered overweight my whole life. I remember vividly one time in high school, I had a turn in a physical to the office, and right at the bottom of the page it said overweight and I was so embarrassed to turn that in and to have that written there.”

Not one to rely on baseless claims, she consulted with her dietician, stating: “I chatted with my dietician because I go off of facts and not just what what pops up here like you do. We talked about BMI and we talked about how it isn’t helpful for athletes. BMI doesn’t tell you much. It just tells you what your height and weight and what that equals. I’ve said it before.

“I’m 5’10, 200lbs and I have about 170lbs of lean mass on me. Do that math in your head. You probably can’t. That’s pretty crazy, right? And BMI doesn’t really tell you what I can do.”

She continued: “It doesn’t tell you what I do on the field, how fit I am. It’s just a couple numbers put together. It doesn’t tell you how much muscle I have or anything like that.”

But she concluded with a defiant message to her critics: “I am considered overweight, but alas, I’m going to the Olympics and you’re not.”

The athlete’s Instagram comments sparked outrage among her fans, who leapt to her defence. One user exclaimed: “Do that math in your head, you probably can’t. LOUDER OUR QUEEEEN,” while another added: “Preach my queen. BMI ISN’T MADE FOR ATHLETES.”

A third simply stated: “Imagine fat-shaming an OLYMPIC ATHLETE.” Elana Meyers Taylor, a fellow Olympian, also chimed in, saying: “Fellow overweight Olympian here! That high BMI has been the key to my Olympic success!”

Others suggested that the athlete should simply “ignore the haters” — but she had the perfect retort for them.

Adding in the caption, she asserted: “No, thank you. As long as people keep commenting dumb stuff I will continue to clap back and stand up for myself. And also my fans love it.”