| Pär Arvidsson | |
| Fullname: | Pär Johan Arvidsson |
| Nicknames: | Pära |
| Nationality: | Swedish |
| Strokes: | butterfly |
| Club: | Finspångs SK, Finspång (SWE) SK Korrugal, Finspång (SWE) |
| Coach: | Nort Thornton (U. Cal. Berkeley) |
| Birth Date: | 27 February 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Finspång, Sweden |
| Height: | 183 cm |
| Weight: | 74 kg |
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.
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.[1] [2]
Between 1976 and 1983 he became Swedish 200 butterfly champion 22 times, and held the Swedish record in the 200 butterfly until 2008.[2]
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.[3]
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.[2]