The most experienced Olympian in United States’ 613-person contingent for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, baseball player Eddy Alvarez held his country’s flag in the opening ceremony parade on Friday. Alvarez and veteran basketball player Sue Bird led the US delegation. This is the first time that Team USA has had two flag bearers. The International Olympic Committee revised its rules last year, permitting each nation to have two flag bearers – one male and female – a move to promote gender equality. 

In Pics | Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony

Who is Eddy Alvarez?

Even though Alvarez comes to Tokyo with extensive Olympics experience, none of it has to do anything with baseball. The 31-year-old won a silver medal in the 5000-meter speed skating relay at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi after being disqualified from three skating events. 

Seven years have gone and the Cuban-American is set to perform on a different field, literally. He will be representing the US baseball team, in a bid to become the third American to medal in both Summer and Winter Games. 

Also read: Kept out of venues, Japan Olympic superfan brings Games home

“I would say the only link is the fact that we go left. There’s really nothing similar about them,” Alvarez had jokingly said in an interview, as per NPR reports. 

His teammates selected Alvarez along with US women’s basketball legend Sue Bird as the flag bearers. This will be Bird’s fifth Olympics.

Eddy Alvarez is a first-generation Cuban American. He started rollerblading when he was five years old. He grew up in Miami, graduating from Christopher Columbus High School. Alvarez was nicknamed ‘Eddy the Jet’. The Olympian won the triple crown –  national age level titles in inline speed skating, long track speed skating, and short track speed skating – when he was 11 years old.

Also read: What are the dos and don’ts for athletes at the Tokyo Olympics?

“I was just cruising around the streets of South Beach and got scouted. Two ladies stopped my parents and said, ‘This kid needs to try the sport of inline speed skating,’ so I did and I remember falling in love with it and the thrill of racing,” he told Team USA.

His professional baseball career started when the Chicago White Sox signed him to a minor league contract in 2014. He made his debut with the Arizona White Sox of the Rookie-level Arizona League, where he played 27 games. He gradually got promoted and recognized. In May 2021, Alvarez was named to the roster of the United States national baseball team for the Americas Qualifying Event.