Miami Native Carries U.S. Flag During Olympics Opening: Report

TOKYO, JAPAN — A Cuban American Miami native, Eddy Alvarez, was one of two flag bearers for Team USA during the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Summer Olympics Thursday.

The baseball player — and former Olympic speed skater — was joined by U.S. women’s basketball point guard Sue Bird in the honor of carrying the American flag during the ceremony to kick off the global athletic competition.

“It means absolutely everything. You know we’re both first-generation Cuban Americans. It makes us so proud. Everything our families have sacrificed and everything our families have gone through to get us here, get us the freedom, and the opportunity we both have it means so much. He really is the American dream,” Alvarez’s wife, Gaby, told CBS Miami.

Alvarez won a silver medal as a speed skater in the 5,000-meter relay during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. This summer, he’s part of the U.S. baseball team competing in Japan, NPR said.

He spent four seasons playing baseball in the minor leagues, NBC South Florida said. In 2020, he was traded to the Miami Marlins.

Alvarez played in 12 Major League Baseball games, batting .189 with one double and two RBIs, reports said. He was sent back to the minor leagues, though, and currently plays for the Triple-A Jacksonville team.

He got his start with in-line skating while roller blading through his Florida neighborhood when he was just 5 years old.

"I was just cruising around the streets of South Beach and got scouted," he recently told Team USA, according to NPR. "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."

In his youth, he pursued both speed skating and baseball. After injuring his knee, he focused on speed skating and getting into the Olympics, reports said.

After returning from the Winter Games, the infielder switched gears and began his baseball career when the Chicago White Sox signed him to play for their minor league teams.