The countdown to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is on and Ilona Maher is lacing up her rugby cleats.
After leading USA rugby to bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the country's first Olympic medal in the sport, Maher announced she's returning to the pitch in hopes of competing in her third Games on home turf.
"I have decided I'm ready to compete for a spot in the LA 2028 Games to represent my country in rugby sevens," Maher said in a YouTube video on Saturday, Nov. 7. "We're looking to win a medal in LA 2028 ... That's the ultimate goal. And I think it starts now. We're already training for LA. It's happening. Every moment we're preparing ourselves to be on that podium in LA, in a home Olympics."
Maher previously competed for Team USA in women's
rugby sevens at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics. She went on to represent Team USA at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup in England, before stepping away from the sport for a year because she "wasn't really well mentally," Maher said.
"When you train for the Olympics, you kind of give your all to it and blood, sweat, tears, time, money, mental health. And so I think for me it was important to take some time off and miss it and genuinely miss it," Maher said. "I missed being on a team. I miss having a schedule. I miss pushing my body to the limits out there and getting to connect with my teammates. So it wasn't a decision I took lightly, but I also know that rugby is so much my passion, my love, and I want to find that again."
She added, "I'm really happy to be back. I feel like this is me. I feel happier, like a happier person now."
Since Maher's breakout performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she has become a household name and gained more than 5.6 million followers on Instagram. Maher posed for the cover of Sports Illustrated'd swimsuit edition and finished as a runner-up on Season 33 of "Dancing With the Stars," where the body positivity advocate became the first female contestant to lift their partner in the show's history. She was also named the best breakthrough athlete at the 2025 ESPYs.
"We saw what happened in Paris when we won an (Olympic) medal, saw what happened for our team, for myself, for our country," Maher said on Monday. "I'm looking to win a medal with these girls."
Maher said her training has consisted of a lot of running and conditioning.
"A big thing for me is, because I did take a year off, was being able to come back in and be ready to accelerate and stop on a dime and take hits," she added. "So it's been slowly progressing my body to be full go again."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ilona Maher took a year away from rugby. Now she’s chasing LA 2028
