Ilona Maher, American rugby Olympian, places second on Dancing with the Stars | Women’s Rugby Union

American rugby union star Ilona Maher fell just short in ABC’s Dancing with the Stars finale on Tuesday night, finishing third in the judges’ scoring but an agonizing second after the viewers’ votes were also tallied.

Before her final dance with her partner, Allen Bursten, Maher summed up the impact of her stint on the show.

“I’m strong and powerful, but I can also be graceful,” said the Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist. “So, the Mirrorball (trophy) won’t be so much for me (if I win it), I think it will be for all the girls who have been told they’re too big or they’re too muscular or they are not beautiful.”

In the event, the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy – named after the late British judge of the show and its British equivalent, Strictly Come Dancing – went to Joey Graziadei (star of ABC’s). The Bachelor) and dancer Jenna Johnson.

Maher’s next move will be eagerly awaited by her legions of new fans from her three-month stint on primetime screens, her huge following on social media, where she sends messages of empowerment interspersed with trademark jokes and across the world of rugby.

Maher has said she wants to play for the United States at the 15-a-side Rugby World Cup in England next year. She would bring huge star power on and off the pitch – but has been away from the pitch for some time and will have more TV engagements going forward. Bachelorette has been implied at, happily. On Tuesday night, ABC announced that Maher and Bursten will be part of the Dancing with the Stars tour in select cities.

They entered Tuesday’s gleefully punishing three-hour final in third place in the judges’ standings from the previous week on 57 points, one point behind two couples: Graziadei and Johnson and Chandler Kinney (a young actor, star of Disney’s Zombies) and her partner Brandon Armstrong .

Introducing Maher, judge Bruno Tonioli called her “perhaps the most powerful female star we’ve ever had – but she also brings enlightenment”.

Maher’s first dance was in the redemption round – a chance to right mistakes made earlier in the season. Maher got the jive after crying after his first attempt at the form. She and Bursten duly tore up the stage to Shake a Tail Feather by Ray Charles. Maher had lifted Bursten earlier, but now she jumped into his arms.

“I’m not excited about the freestyle,” Maher said after the dance. “I was really just focused on this release and it was eating at me all week and I’ve been stressed all week. It might not be perfect, but I did my best.”

She scored three nines – but on a night where no judge awarded less than that, it meant she and Bursten slipped to four points behind the leaders.

A glimmer of light opened when Graziadei and Johnson “slipped” to just 29 out of 30 for their freestyle, which, like Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedorosciks, was based on the celebrity’s sport of choice, in this case the tennis court Graziadei trained in Hawaii before finding reality TV -fame. Danny Amendola, the Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots wide receiver, varied things by performing his freestyle routine as Ken to his partner’s pink Barbie.

Maher started his freestyle routine in a mock rugby locker room, shirts on the walls, each named after an Olympic teammate, and presumably the smell of mud, blood and dressing filling the enclosed air. After a brief monologue of jokes, she and Bursten danced an exuberant rugby-themed routine to Feminomenon by Chappell Roan. Finally, Maher, dressed in a daring mirror ball costume, tackled Bursten and knocked loose a similarly glittering rugby ball.

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba enthused: “It’s about the impact you leave. You leave me so empowered. That’s the magic.”

Three 10s followed, a perfect score.

At the Paris Olympics, Maher’s team did enough for third place. That bronze medal has done wonders for women’s rugby in the United States, both on and off the court. On Dancing with the Stars, Maher did everything she could, but finished a spot short of a fictitious silver. But she did wonders for herself and for the game she plays.