Rugby Star Ilona Maher's Sister Creates Viral 'Girl Dinner' — Here's What They Ate in Paris (Exclusive)

 

Ilona Maher and Olivia Maher. PHOTO: ILONA MAHER/INSTAGRAM

Team USA rugby star Ilona Maher isn’t the only star going viral in her family!

The athlete, who won a bronze medal with the women’s rugby sevens team on Tuesday, brought her family to Paris for the 2024 Olympics — including her sister, Olivia, who last year created the viral “girl dinner” trend.

While chatting with PEOPLE at the Team USA house in Paris, Ilona, ​​27, even brought Olivia, 29, in on the fun, with the sisters smiling and hugging for the camera.

“She’s right there, the inventor of the girl dinner. Come over, say hi. This is the inventor of the Girl Dinner. She’s my manager, my boss, my everything. She does it all,” Ilona tells PEOPLE.

Olivia then joked that she was also Ilona’s “idol,” and offered up some delicious treats (cookies!) given to her by two-time gold medalist Summer Sanders.

While Ilona — whose other sister Adrianna was also in Paris to cheer her on — has amassed more than 2 million followers on Instagram thanks to her hilarious videos about life as an Olympian, Olivia has a sizable following of her own. Last spring, she went viral on TikTok after making a video about the appeal of eating low-effort foods for dinner, like cheese and bread.

Ilona Maher and Olivia Maher. ILONA MAHER/INSTAGRAM

“A girl just came in here and said how, like, in the Middle Ages peasants couldn’t eat anything but bread and cheese and how horrible it was — and she said that’s my ideal meal,” Olivia said in the video. “I call it a ‘girls’ dinner’ or a ‘medieval peasant dinner.’ ”

When asked what her ideal “girls’ dinner” would be in Paris, Maher said that while competing, she focused on protein and carbs — but now that she’s medaled, she can branch out.

“There’s going to be a lot of bread, a lot of cheese, a lot of meat. No vegetables at all,” she joked. “I just want a classic steak frites, man. Give me that with sauce there, on the terrace with a glass of wine, and that’s what I want.”

Maher on July 30 in Paris. CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY

After taking home bronze in a dramatic win over Australia on Tuesday, Maher said her excitement hadn’t completely worn off.

“Honestly, I’m still trying to figure out how it feels. It still doesn’t feel real. It’s so exciting,” she said. “And I think when I saw Spiff [Alex Sedrick, who made the winning play] running down the court, I was like, ‘No way, is this happening? Like, are we going to do this?’ And it was so crazy. It was a fun ending for everybody. It was an exciting ending. So it was like, I don’t know when it’s going to feel real, to be honest.”

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visit people.com for the latest coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympic newsletter, to get the biggest Olympic news delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, starting July 26, on NBC and Peacock./people.com