Olympic champion Ilona Maher knows how to have fun in Paris.
Maher’s giant croissant video is the latest Olympic food-centric content to go viral on TikTok, following ‘Olympic Muffin Man’ Henrik Christiansen’s Olympic Village chocolate muffin videos
On Saturday, August 3, the 27-year-old Team USA women’s rugby player and viral TikTok athlete took some time out of her Summer Olympics schedule to sample one of the local delicacies: a giant croissant.
@ilonamaher When in Paris@Olympics @paris2024 ♬ original sound – Ilona Maher
“A light snack”
In a video she uploaded to her TikTok, which has more than 2 million followers, Maher sat at an outside table wearing a Team USA T-shirt and her Olympic bronze medal as she held the French treat in both hands
“A light snack,” she captioned the video, which showed her taking a big bite out of the corner of the croissant.
“Just a little treat. Just something to get me fired up,” he said in the video.
Maher helped lead the USA rugby team to a bronze medal in Paris, marking the first time the team has won an Olympic medal. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Maher was part of the team that finished in 6th place.
Maher’s giant croissant video is the latest Olympic food-centric content to go viral on TikTok, following ‘Olympic Muffin Man’ Henrik Christiansen’s videos of the Olympic Village’s chocolate muffins, as well as a video of Snoop Dogg and Cookie Monster surprising Martha Stewart with a macaron cake for her 83rd birthday.
Body shaming
Maher is not only a great athlete but also an ardent supporter of body positivity. The Olympian recently went viral after she responded to an offensive comment on one of her TikTok videos. The comment read: “I bet this person has a 30% body mass index,” referring to Maher’s body.
“Hi thanks for this comment, I think you were trying to make fun of me but this is actually true. I actually have a BMI (body mass index) of 30. Well, 29.3 to be more precise. I’ve been considered overweight my whole life,” Maher explained. She also shared that while she’s 1.80m and weighs 200kg, she knows that BMI is “not really useful”, especially for athletes.
“I talked to my dietician because I’m based on facts and not on this here (points to her head) like you. And we talked about body mass index,” he explained. “BMI doesn’t tell you much. It just tells you what your height and weight (are) and what that equates to.”
“And (my) BMI doesn’t really tell you what I could do. It doesn’t tell you what I do on the field (or) how fit I am. It’s just two numbers put together. It doesn’t tell you how much muscle I have or anything like that. So yes, I have a BMI of 30. I am considered overweight. But unfortunately, I’m going to the Olympics – and you’re not.”
@ilonamaherAs long as haters keep saying dumb stuff, I’m gonna keep clapping back♬ original sound – Ilona Maher
*With information from: People | Prevention
