Eddy Alvarez

Eduardo Cortes Alvarez (born January 30, 1990) is an American former professional baseball utility player and short track speed skater. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets. He represented the United States and medaled at the 2014 Winter Olympics in short track speed skating. He also medaled as a baseball player at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the sixth athlete and third American ever to medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics in different disciplines. After his MLB debut on August 5, 2020, Alvarez became the first Winter Olympics athlete and the first non-baseball Olympian since Jim Thorpe to play in MLB. They are also the only MLB players to win an Olympic medal in a different sport.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Alvarez grew up in Miami, Florida. He took up roller skating at age five, began ice speed skating at age seven, and at eleven he won national age-level titles in inline, long track, and short track speed skating. In high school, Alvarez took a break from skating to concentrate on his other passion—baseball. He played well enough to earn a college scholarship, but instead quit the sport to pursue his Olympic dream.

Alvarez made the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships, winning a gold medal in 2009. After missing the 2010 Olympics, he returned to baseball in an attempt to give his knees a break after years of chronic pain. He became an All-Conference shortstop, but his knees did not improve. In early 2012, Alvarez underwent surgery to repair badly torn patellar tendons that left him completely immobile for four weeks. He returned to the National Team in July, but was too weak to navigate stairs, let alone skate competitively.

After intense physical therapy, Alvarez made the United States' World Cup Team in December 2012. He finished the season as the country's third highest ranked skater. During the 2013–14 World Cup season, Alvarez won three medals. At the 2014 Olympic Trials, he placed second in the 500 meters, second in the 1,500 meters, and third in the 1,000 meters. The performance made him the first Cuban-American male speed skater to make a U.S. Olympic team. At the Olympics, he won a silver medal in the 5,000 meter relay after failing to medal in his three individual events. Prior to the Olympics, Alvarez said he planned to give up speed skating after the Games to concentrate on baseball.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Eduardo Alvarez was born January 30, 1990, to Mabel and Walter Alvarez. He grew up in Miami, graduating from Christopher Columbus High School.

At age five, Alvarez was given a pair of plastic roller skates. He quickly found he had a talent and passion for the sport, performing tricks such as jumping over boxes for weekend crowds in South Beach. At age seven, his coach, Bob Manning, introduced him to the ice. Taking inspiration from fellow Manning student and Miami resident Jennifer Rodriguez, Alvarez commit himself to one day making the Olympics. At age eleven, "Eddy the Jet", as he was becoming known as, won the triple crown: national age-level titles in inline speed skating, long track speed skating, and short track speed skating.

As a child, Alvarez spent so much time at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee that his parents bought a home within walking distance.

During high school, Alvarez put his skating career on hold to focus on his other love, baseball. He played well enough to earn a full athletic scholarship to St. Thomas University as a shortstop. However, the idea of competing in the Olympics drew him back to speed skating, so he declined the scholarship. "Basically my senior year I went up to the head coach and I was like, 'listen I've always had this goal, or a dream, and I want to go back to skating.'" he recalled. "So I dropped baseball and went back to skating."