Ilona Maher Quotes Taylor Swift in Heartfelt Thank You Message to Fans

The professional rugby player showed appreciation for her following in her latest Instagram post.

Ilona Maher / Gilbert Flores/Getty Images

It’s been a big year for Ilona Maher. Between her Olympic bronze medal performance in rugby sevens at the 2024 Paris Games, her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut in Bellport, New York, her second-place finish on Season 33 of Dancing With the Stars and her recent signing with the Bristol Bears of England’s Premiership Rugby league, she’s barely had a chance to catch her breath.

The 28-year-old has been slowly building a following since her Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Fans flocked to her social media pages for honest reflections on body image and her body positivity content. But the past few months, in particular, have seen an atmospheric rise for the professional athlete. She has grown ever more popular since her second Olympic Games. Despite the nonstop nature of the past few months, Maher remains grateful for both the opportunities she has been given and her platform.

In an Instagram reel that the athlete shared on Dec. 11, she edited together clips from her childhood, her professional rugby career and her stint on Dancing With the Stars and put them to the sound of a Taylor Swift quote from 2009. “I get tired a lot, but I never get tired of it,” Swift said in the audio clip. “Because for me, I remember when I was a little kid, and I used to sit there and think about how lucky I would be if someday people cared about the words that I wrote. Or how lucky I would be if someday I was just walking through the mall and saw some little girl walking by with my face on her shirt. And when you spend so much time daydreaming about things like that, when that actually happens, you don’t complain about it, you know.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ilona Maher (@ilonamaher)

For Maher, the pop sensation’s quote was the perfect way to relay her heartfelt appreciation for her fans. “You all make it so worth it,” she added in the caption of her post. “I love you.”

The athlete has signed a three-month-long contract with the Bears in England. Beyond that, she doesn’t have any solid plans. She has ambitions—returning to the Olympics in 2028, etc.—but for now, she’s letting things play out as they may. Through it all (whatever comes her way), she will always take the time to thank her fans. It’s just who she is.