The Short answer? No.
Ilona Maherthe – the U.S. rugby sevens Olympian, Dancing with the Stars fan favorite, and fierce advocate for body positivity- is a proud cisgender woman. Despite her powerhouse physique and athletic dominance, baseless rumors about her gender identity have swirled online, fueled by toxic “transvestigation” conspiracies that unfairly target strong women in sports. These claims aren’t just false, they’re part of a harmful pattern of policing how female athletes should look.
Who Is Ilona Maher?
Born in Burlington, Vermont, on August 12, 1996, Maher took up rugby at 17, captured three collegiate national titles with Quinnipiac University, and earned an MBA while training full-time. She debuted for Team USA in 2018, returned from Tokyo 2020 as a viral TikTok star, and helped the U.S. women secure bronze at Paris 2024 before a short stint with England’s Bristol Bears. Off the pitch, she fronts campaigns for Secret deodorant and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit while amassing the largest Instagram following of any active rugby player.
Where Did the Rumors Come From?
Online “transvestigators” scour photos of strong female athletes—boxer Imane Khelif, sprinter Caster Semenya, and Maher, among others, claiming jawlines or musculature “prove” they are secretly male. The flap peaked during the 2024 Olympics, when misogynistic accounts on X and TikTok spliced Maher’s highlight reels with conspiracy captions.
Why does the speculation spread?
First, the internet rewards sensational claims; second, many viewers still equate femininity with slimness and delicacy; and third, anti-trans sentiment co-opts these stereotypes to police all women’s bodies.
What Maher Has Actually Said
As per the Daily Citizen, Maher shared: “I get comments being called a man and being called masculine and being asked if I’m on steroids.” Maher regularly posts tear-streaked but defiant videos urging girls to reject body-shaming and celebrates teammates with the hashtag #StrongIsFeminine.
Why Female Athletes Are Often Misgendered
Misogyny, racism, and transphobia intersect in women’s sport. Historically, governing bodies have relied on invasive “sex-verification” practices from nude inspections in the 1960s to today’s chromosome and testosterone tests to weed out athletes who don’t match a narrow vision of femininity. As mentioned in the BBC Report, Intersex runners such as Caster Semenya were forced onto hormone-suppression drugs. At the same time, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand had to fight in court just to be allowed to race.
More recently, transgender swimmer Lia Thomas became a lightning rod for broader culture-war debates about fairness. In each instance, policing bodies serve as a gatekeeping tool that punishes deviations from whiteness, thinness, and cisnormativity, all while claiming to “protect” women’s sport.
Understanding Transgender Identity vs. Athletic Body Types
Gender identity is an internal, deeply felt sense of self, while athletic body type is an external trait that varies widely among both cis and trans competitors. Muscles, height, or testosterone levels alone cannot define gender. Elite cis women often exceed so-called “male” metrics, and many trans women fall well within women’s physiological norms once on hormone therapy. Modern science recognizes sex traits as continuums, and the IOC’s 2021 framework now requires sport-specific, evidence-based eligibility rules instead of blanket hormone targets. Bottom line: An athlete’s build reflects their training, not their identity.
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