Pär Arvidsson

Pär Arvidsson

Personal information
Full name	Pär Arvidsson
Nickname	Pära
Nationality	Swedish
Born	(1960-02-27) 27 February 1960 Finspång, Sweden
Height	183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	butterfly
Club	Finspångs SK, Finspång (SWE) SK Korrugal, Finspång (SWE)
College team	U. California Berkeley
Coach	Nort Thornton (U. Cal. Berkeley)
Medal record Men's swimming Representing Sweden Olympic Games 1980 Moscow 100 m butterfly World Championships (LC) 1978 Berlin 100 m butterfly European Championships (LC) 1977 Jönköping 100 m butterfly 1981 Split 100 m butterfly 1981 Split 4×100 m medley 1977 Jönköping 200 m butterfly

Pär Arvidsson (born 27 February 1960 in Finspång) is a former butterfly swimmer and 1980 Olympic champion from Sweden who became a successful businessman and entrepreneur after receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1985.

1980 Olympics and world record

He won the 100 m butterfly at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, after having set the world record in the same event a couple of months earlier in Austin, Texas. Suffering from an illness in early competition, he recovered sufficiently to just capture the 100 meter butterfly gold medal only 0.02 seconds ahead of second placed East German Roger Pyttel. He held the record until April 1981.

Between 1976 and 1983 he became Swedish 200 butterfly champion 22 times, and held the Swedish record in the 200 butterfly until 2008.

Education and careers

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in economics, where he swam for Hall of Fame Coach Nort Thornton, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1985.

After Harvard, he worked with McKinsey & Co, and later became a noted Bay Area businessman and entrepreneur. Around 1990, Arvidsson was a co-founder and investor in Bare Escentuals, where he served as both interim CEO and CFO. He helped found and direct GameChange, LLC, currently known as GameChange.com and was a founder of the company, SB2. After a number of years, he founded, directed, and was CEO of Snowshoe Capital, LLC, and was Chief Executive Officer of WCities International, Inc.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m)

Event	Time		Date	Meet	Location	Ref
100 m butterfly	54.15		11 Apr 1980	-	Austin, TX, United States
200 m butterfly	2:00.42		18 Aug 1979	US Summer Nationals	Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Swedish record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial

Clubs

• Finspångs SK