Marlins' Eddy Alvarez To Be Flag Bearer At Olympics Opening Ceremony
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - The start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo is just a few days away and Miami will be well represented at the opening ceremonies.
Baseball player Eddy Alvarez has been selected to be one of the two flag bearers.
The Cuban American, who graduated from Christopher Columbus High School, will be the first baseball player to carry the flag for the U.S. in Olympic history.
He made his major league debut last year with the Miami Marlins, but has been in the Marlins minors this year.
Alvarez won a silver medal in speedskating at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
If the U.S. baseball team were to medal, he'd be only the third American to medal in both the Winter and Summer Games, joining Eddie Egan (boxing and bobsled) and Lauryn Williams (track and field and bobsled).
The other flag bearer selected is four-time Olympic women's basketball gold medalist Sue Bird.
Bird is the second U.S. women's basketball player to carry the flag, joining current coach Dawn Staley, who did it at the 2004 games. Those were the first that Bird participated in.
"It's an incredible honor to be selected the flag bearer for Team USA," Bird said. "I know what that means because I got to witness Dawn Staley go through it when she was selected in 2004. It's an honor that is bigger than the moment in that you've been selected by your fellow Team USA athletes to represent the entire delegation, and it will last forever."
Bird will be trying to win an unprecedented fifth gold medal with teammate Diana Taurasi, which would give them the most in golds in women's basketball history.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)