Miami Baseball Player 3rd American To Win Summer, Winter Medals

TOKYO, JAPAN — Though the United States lost 2-0 to Japan in the Tokyo Summer Olympics’ gold medal men’s baseball game Saturday, Miami baseball player Eddy Alvarez made history by medaling at both the summer and winter Olympics.

After taking home the silver medal Saturday, he’s now only the third American athlete to accomplish this feat of winning medals in both the winter and summer games.

Alvarez was also an Olympic speed skater who won a silver medal in the 5,000-meter relay during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Prior to this, Eddie Eagan won a gold medal in boxing in 1920 and later won another gold medal as part of an American four-man bobsled team in 1932, NPR reported.

Runner Lauryn Williams brought home a silver medal in the 100-meter race in Athens in 2004 and won gold with her 4x100-meter relay team in London in 2012. In 2014, she won a silver medal as part of a two-woman bobsled team in Sochi.

A 7-2 win over South Korea Thursday night sent the U.S. baseball team into the gold medal match-up with the Olympics host country, guaranteeing Alvarez the sport’s silver medal, at least.

After Thursday’s win, he got emotional, weeping in the dugout, the Associated Press reported.

He told AP, “Yeah, I got emotional because it was a lot of sacrifice. I still can’t believe it.”

In the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Cuban American was also selected as one of two Team USA flag bearers during the opening ceremony.

He grew up passionate about both speed skating and baseball. After his 2014 Olympic win, he focused on baseball, playing four seasons in the minor league before being traded to the Miami Marlins in 2020.

Alvarez played in 12 Major League Baseball games for the Marlins, batting .189 with no RBIs, reports said. The 31-year-old infielder was sent back to the minor leagues and currently plays for the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.