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Ilona Maher Goes Viral on TikTok for Love Island-Themed Olympic Village Content
Rugby star Ilona Maher is showing off the 2024 Paris Olympics Love Island style! The California native made waves online with iconic villa-themed content showcasing the Olympic village, where the world’s most talented athletes will be living during the games.
“Here to cause a ruckus,” Ilona, 27, captioned a TikTok on Tuesday, July 23, tagging the Love Island franchise. In the clip, the Olympian modeled an official Team U.S.A. bikini that Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS brand designed.
“This week, a hot new bombshell enters the villa,” the athlete used a popular voiceover from the summer series as audio for the upload.
Love Island fans rejoiced in the comment section at the crossover between the two major events of the summer.
“I am obsessed with your treating the Olympic village as Love Island! Quality content,” one fan wrote. Meanwhile, another user added, “I will forever refer to the Olympic village as The Villa, Thankyou.”
The Official Team U.S.A. TikTok account even chimed into the conversation, writing, “*PATRIOTISM INTENSIFIES*”
In a follow-up video, Ilona updated her followers about the “success” some of her teammates were having “in the villa,” referring to the home where all the contestants live during their Love Island careers.
“Naya got a number,” she said as she panned the camera to her teammate, Naya Tapper, as they sat side by side in a cafeteria in the Olympic village. “Well, she got an Insta. She just stared this dude down. He stared at her. Then, he came over here.”
Naya, 29, simply waved her finger to the camera and attributed the flirty exchange to strong “eye contact.”
“The power she has!” Ilona emphasized as she pointed to her colleague. “Power. Feminine wiles over here she’s using.”
Fans have historically been curious about the Olympic Village, which houses more than 15,000 Olympians and 9,000 Paralympians for the duration of the event. The 2024 Paris Olympic Village reportedly cost $1.85 billion to build, with 40,000 meals being prepped every day in a dining hall designed to cater to various styles of cuisine from around the world.
Besides the Rugby star’s viral Love Island-themed posts, athletes have shared photos of controversial cardboard sleeping cots provided by the organization online, sparking rumors that these beds were “anti-sex.”
Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan was the first to show off he was testing the beds in the 2024 Paris Olympic Village in a TikTok video posted on July 20. Wearing only navy shorts and white socks, he jumped on his bed to demonstrate its sturdiness despite being made of cardboard.
“I’m at the Paris Olympic Games, and once again, we have these cardboard ‘anti-sex’ beds. When I tested them last time, they withstood my testing. Maybe I wasn’t vigorous enough,” he said before conducting his latest “test” of the mattress. “Nope. They pass the test. It’s fake. Fake news!”
In the caption, he added, “Paris Olympics ‘Anti-sex beds’ debunked (again).”
The cardboard beds were first introduced at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were held in July and August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. runner Paul Chelimo seemingly started the rumor that the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements were made to discourage intimate relations between Olympic athletes.
“Beds to be installed in Tokyo Olympic Village will be made of cardboard, this is aimed at avoiding intimacy among athletes,” he wrote on Twitter in July 2021. “Beds will be able to withstand the weight of a single person to avoid situations beyond sports. I see no problem for distance runners, even 4 of us can do.”
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