USA Rugby’s Ilona Maher TikToks during the Paris Olympics

Ilona Maher is back in action. No athlete gives fans insight into the Olympic experience like Maher, the American rugby player who first exploded onto TikTok at the Tokyo Games with videos display your USA bucket hat and talking about shooting with Romanian volleyball players. In Paris, you can find her talking about her new found affection for the handball team (1.1 million views from Sunday afternoon in France), playing with your teammates on one of the cardboard beds in the Olympic Village (1.4 million; one player did an impressive Irish dance), channeling Sue Sylvester, the intimidating cheerleading coach, played by Jane Lynch in Happiness (11.1 million), and gushing about a guy who talked to her in the Village meal line (11.7 million; he asked her to move on and stop delaying things). She wowed in her “chic” Ralph Lauren Team USA dress, before changing her tone. “But you know what’s not cute,” she said. “I had to stand completely naked in that public bathroom, with your boobs hanging out while you were bent over just trying to pee. That’s not cute.

Perhaps no Olympian has done a better job of standing out in a niche sport with a low public profile – especially in the United States – than Maher. His combined 2.5 million followers on Instagram (1.1 million and counting) and TikTok (1.4 million and counting) exceed those of established Olympic sports figures such as track and field star Noah Lyles (950 thousand) and seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky (701,000). In Tokyo, Maher’s TikTok following exploded, going from 86,000 to about 800,000, she says, in a matter of weeks. She was able to monetize this audience and do business with brands like Secret, L’Oreal and New Era to make a comfortable living. In early July, she even launched, along with former collegiate swimmer Ann Ragan Kearns, a skin care company called Medalist.

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Maher grew up in Burlington, Vermont, the daughter of a father who distributed films on video — in the post-Blockbuster era, he worked in lease finance — and a mother who worked as a nurse. She played field hockey, softball and basketball as a child, but decided to try rugby her senior year of high school. She loved it and went on to play the sport at Quinnipiac University, graduating with a degree in nursing in 2018.

She began playing for the national team right after college. In February 2021, Maher began focusing on TikTok. “We were stuck in quarantine at one of our tournaments and I just needed something to do to pass the time,” she tells TIME. Just days after she posted a video wearing Team USA gear, a man approached her at a rugby event in Spain. “The guy was like, ‘Oh, you’re the TikTok girl,’” says Maher. “That’s when I really understood, ‘Oh, this is a really powerful tool to get my sport and myself out there.’”

She uses her social media platform to promote positive body image. “I get comments about being called a man, being called very masculine, because I have muscles,” says Maher. “I know it’s from people online who are very sad and insecure. But I know they’re saying that to other girls too. And that’s what I don’t like.” She posted a video a few hours before the opening ceremonies. “I want you all to take a look at all the different body types on display,” Maher said in a clip this generated 3.3 million views. “All body types are important. All body types are worthy. From the smallest gymnast to the tallest volleyball player, from the rugby player to the shot putter, to the sprinter. All body types are beautiful and can do incredible things. Truly see yourself in these athletes and know that you can do it too.”

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While France beat Fiji to win men’s rugby gold on Saturday—winning the host country’s first gold of the Games— the women’s competition began on Sunday, at the Stade de France: the USA defeated Japan, 36-7, in the first group match, and will face Brazil and France in the next round. Rugby ends on Tuesday with qualifying rounds and medal events, giving Maher and his teammates almost two weeks to live in the Olympic Village. “I’m excited to watch the other events,” says Maher. “Go to the track, women’s water polo, and I hope to see some of these dominant athletes doing their thing.”

The schedule also leaves more time for Maher to make her mark online with her fellow Olympians as co-stars. She can finish playing rugby in just a few days. But for Maher, the Games are just beginning.