Eddy Alvarez Talks Olympics and WooSox

and I always knew that I wanted to go to the Olympics so that was my goal a goal that might only be a dream for some athletes was accomplished by Eddie Alvarez twice Growing Up in Southern Florida Alvarez would rollerblade along South Beach for fun on the weekends and began to catch the eye of those who would change his life just kind of the opportunity came when some random recreational skaters were like hey should try this and then we found a coach roughly in the area and then uh yeah that's where the the whole journey started the journey to his first Olympics I knew uh that I wasn't going to be able to go to the Olympics as a rollerblader so I had to transition over to the ice um which I luckily did at a relatively young age growing up in Miami obviously there's not a whole lot of ice um around uh South Florida uh but it was more of like the world of inline speed skating that brought me to the the possibility of becoming an Olympian at 11 years old Eddie Alvarez won the Triple Crown of speed skating the inline speed skating Nationals and the long and short track Nationals and that that's when I started to get the attention of like the national team and um you know got me the opportunity to sign my first professional contract at 12 out of Miami Florida contestant number 11 72 Eddie Alvarez yeah it's it's crazy to think that I've been a professional athlete for over 20 years Alvarez being at the disadvantage on the wall he likes challenges he's told me before that he has no fear and we're going to see if he can pull out some magic right here in this race oh coming up inside it's Eddie Alvarez to the line first entertaining Alvarez made his way to the 2014 Sochi Olympics representing the United States of America and winning silver in the 5,000 m relay as a short track speed skater to him the Olympic Village experience was one of the best parts that was one of my favorite things to do was to go to the weight room and and get my workouts in at the Olympics cuz you got to hang out with different countries hang out with different sports of all those different countries and you just see how they function I like to say the college experience of the Olympics cuz we're in this bubble for so long dedicating our time and our life to get to this one moment and it's like the time of your life and then you lock it in for your for your event and then like you go back to being able to go to different sports to visit uh and and uh spectate if you're an Olympic Athlete you really cherish it and and it's a special feeling a special feeling that would only fuel his fire for more My First Love was baseball I I would say I was banging things around with a bat before I could walk Eddie had taken a step back from that first love to pursue the Olympic dream in speed skating when he was a young man but after the 2014 Olympics as he worked his way into professional baseball the dream became reality once again as he was named to the roster of the US national baseball team that qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics during a worldwide pandemic So Co was a big difference yeah which which kind of T took away from my experience in Tokyo just cuz we weren't allowed to like explore the city um be social too social around like we weren't allowed to like Gather in Mass groups or anything like that um but the the spirit was still there and if the Olympic experience couldn't get any better Eddie Alvarez was selected alongside basketball player Sue bird to Bear the American flag US USA it's very easy for me to get emotional on on certain things and that was one of the most emotional moments of my life Alvarez reflecting on the moment and why it means so much selfishly I knew that I made a lot of sacrifices but it it runs much deeper than that cuz the uh the the amount of sacrifices that were made through generations prior to me from my family uh it was the only it's the reason why I had that opportunity to be the black bear and represent um you know my blood my Heritage you know everyone everyone behind me you know they gave me every chance possible to make something of that it just like it it's it's an incredible feeling and it's more fulfilling than like knowing that I was a flag bear for them Eddie Alvarez would go on to win silver with Team USA in Tokyo becoming the sixth athlete in history and only the third American to medal in both the summer and winter Olympics I have yet to take take a step back and quite absorb the journey that I've gone through um which is I I know will come one day uh and I'm I'm okay with that I I'm just kind of stacking more on my resume and uh one day I think when I'm sitting back and I in a wheelchair which is sooner rather than later uh I think uh it'll hit me one day and I'll be able to share stories with my grandkids and and from there on it yeah it's hard it's hard to believe that I'm the sixth athlete in history third American to do that while Alvarez is an avid Sports spectator when it comes to the Olympics he was also instrumental in the decision behind baseball's inclusion once again in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles every sport in the Olympics have to go through a selection process with that country or whichever they get voted in um which is why in Paris it was not voted in but break ing was cuzz it's more popular in Paris uh so bringing it back to LA uh that was a process I was a part of the uh La 28 selection for baseball like I was a part of the committee and we did everything in our power to get baseball and softball back into the Olympics for obviously you know it being a Pastime here in America um and we did so it'll be back for 28 um but I just it's tough to say I don't think that rule is going to change for for a while but selfishly yes I want baseball to be in the Olympics every single time