Ilona Maher opened up about the reason behind the shortage of condoms at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The event took place from February 6 to 22 in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Maher is currently away from active competitive rugby and was last seen in action at the 2025 Pacific Four Series with the USA Eagles in April and May. She competed in three pool matches during the tournament, against Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She is currently focusing on her social media presence, brand collaborations, and more.
The 29-year-old recently addressed the condom incident that took place during the 2026 Winter Olympics. At the quadrennial event, the initial supply of approximately 10,000 free condoms was completely exhausted within the first three days of the Games. The organizers were also criticized for initially providing fewer condoms as compared to the other Olympic iterations. In 2024, almost 300,000 condoms were provided for 10,500 athletes.
Shedding light on the shortage of condoms at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Maher recently revealed the real reason behind it, stating that while some were used for their purpose, most of them were taken home by athletes as souvenirs. Drawing from her experience, she said:
“These past Winter Olympics, there was a rumour that over 10,000 condoms were used. Now, some were probably used for that purpose, but I’m here to tell you a lot of them were used as souvenirs. When I went to the Olympics, I went in and grabbed a handful, and now I have them forever. I was at my bedside table the other day. I found a condom from Tokyo. How cool is that?” said Ilona Maher.
She added:
“I’ll set the scene for you. I have a man over. We’re gonna get a little spicy. I say, hey, let’s use protection. Always use protection, ladies. I go in, I grab a condom from the Olympics. I let him know. I say, you know, this one, this is one I competed in the Olympics. I’m now asserted dominance, OK, I’m now in his head. I now have let him know I expect performance. In Olympic performance, I expect results, OK? We won’t use this because this is expired, but I will put it back and now he knows what is expected of him. So that’s really the reason, guys, OK? They were probably doing a little bit in there, but these are just around for us.”
When Ilona Maher opened up about redefining rugby with femininity
In July 2024, Ilona Maher sat for a conversation with CBS Mornings, where she weighed in on being feminine while playing rugby. She spoke about her way of handling both and revealed her feelings behind people calling her masculine.
“I think there’s always been a divide, people believing that when you’re playing sports, you can’t be feminine. I feel that I can be a beast and can play this very physical sport while also keeping my femininity while I do it,” said Ilona Maher.
Opening up about people calling her masculine, she further said:
“I didn’t understand that but now I’m like oh there’s a purpose here for it uh I can stiff arm and I can fend and I can get up and Tackle as hard as I can and that’s why I want other women to even it’s just get in the gym and lift weights like see what your body can do you know do get to a point where you can do a pull-up oh man I I’m so powerful I going to do this I just think it gave me a new perspective on my body.”
Ilona Maher recently slammed Qunnipiac university for removing the women’s rugby team.
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