Pär Arvidsson

Pär Arvidsson is a former butterfly swimmer and 1980 Olympic champion from Sweden.

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 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)

Clubs

Finspångs SK