PALMETTO, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 06: Sue Bird #10 of the Seattle Storm passes the ball during the second half of Game 3 of the WNBA Finals against the Las Vegas Aces at Feld Entertainment Center on October 06, 2020 in Palmetto, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
USA women’s basketball star Sue Bird and baseball infielder Eddy Alvarez will serve as flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
Team USA tweeted out the selection of Bird and Alvarez as this Olympics’ flag bearers.
“An honor unlike any other,” Team USA tweeted out. “Eddy Alvarez and Sue Bird have been selected as Team USA flag bearers for the #TokyoOlympics.”
Traditionally in the past, only one person served as the flag bearer in the Olympics. But this year it was changed to two after the International Olympic Committee encouraged one male and one female to represent the nation as a symbol of gender parity.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!
A week of sports news in your in-box.
We find the sports news you need to know, so you don't have to.
“With 49 percent female participation, Tokyo 2020 will be the first gender-equal Olympic Games ever,” the IOC said. “For the first time, there will be at least one female and one male athlete in each of the teams participating in the Games.”
Bird, 40, has won four gold medals with the women’s team since 2004. The Team USA basketball star will enter the Tokyo Olympics with the hopes of winning her fifth gold medal. Bird was honored to be selected as a flag bearer, especially with the selection coming from her peers. The flag bearers are chosen by their fellow athletes.
“I think that’s the best part, to be honest, to have your peers be the one to kind of see your career and pick you to be the one to lead us in,” Bird told the Today Show on Wednesday.
Alvarez, 31, has played with the Miami Marlins and won a silver medal in speedskating at the 2014 Winter Olympics. USA baseball looks to win its first gold medal since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is back in the news, this time for a legal battle outside…
The New York Knicks dominated the Eastern Conference finals, sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in four…
The reported departure of Pep Guardiola from Manchester City could signal the beginning of a…
The controversial Enhanced Games, which allow athletes to use steroids, kicked off in Las Vegas…
Daniel Suarez honored the late Kylie Busch after winning the Coca-Cola 600. While Suarez was…
The San Antonio Spurs earned a major win Sunday, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-82…