Ilona Maher's TikTok on Post-Olympics Mental Health
"I Feel Like I'm Grieving": Viral Olympian Ilona Maher on Losing Motivation After the Games
@ilonamaher Storms pass and I will be even stronger for it #beastbeautybrains #rugby #usarugby #olympics #tokyoooympics
♬ original sound - Bertie Newman
This summer, we collectively fell in love with 2021 Olympic rugby sevens player Ilona Maher and her hilarious, relatable TikToks that gave us a taste of what life is really like in the Olympic Village. We got to know her as a regular person who just wanted to say hi to an NBA player and make insta-love eye contact with a fellow Olympian across the dining hall. In between TikToks, of course, she was also a world-class athlete who'd achieved a lifelong dream by making it to Tokyo . . . only to finish off the medal stand in sixth place.
TBH, finishing sixth place at the Olympic Games isn't anything to scoff at, but for Maher, it felt like she'd prepared for the Games her whole life and fell short. "I feel like I'm grieving in a way," Maher wrote in a new TikTok. After pushing so hard to make it to Tokyo, she shared that she's now having trouble finishing her workouts. "It's hard to get myself motivated to do my runs and lifts after I worked so hard already."
In the end, it's a matter of knowing that "storms pass," Maher wrote. She and her teammates may have come up short in Tokyo, but Maher is getting ready to turn her eyes to the future. "I will continue to train and get better," she said. "I will be so thankful of my past self for being so strong."
