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}} Eduardo Alvarez (born January 30, 1990) is an American short track speed skater who presented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics and professional baseball player. The son of Cuban immigrants, Alvarez grew up in Miami, Florida. He took up roller skating at age five, performing on the beach. He 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 love – 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 1500 meters, and third in the 1000 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 5000 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. ==Early life== The son of Cuban immigrants, Eduardo Alvarez was born January 30, 1990 to mother Mabel and father Walter.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=NBC Olympics )〕〔〔 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, "Eddie 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.〔 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 and Alvarez 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." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eddy Alvarez」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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