Pär Arvidsson
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Pär Johan Arvidsson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Pära | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Swedish | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Finspång, Sweden | 27 February 1960|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Nort Thornton (U. Cal. Berkeley) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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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.[1]
1980 Olympics and world record
[edit]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.[2][1]
Between 1976 and 1983 he became Swedish 200 butterfly champion 22 times, and held the Swedish record in the 200 butterfly until 2008. [1]
Education and careers
[edit]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.[1]
Personal bests
[edit]Long course (50 m)
[edit]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 |
Records not set in finals: h – heat;
Clubs
[edit]- Finspångs SK
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Olympedia Olympic Bio, Par Arvidsson". olympedia.com. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
- ^ "The Tuscaloosa News - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ "Nort Thornton (USA): 1995 Honor Coach". International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021.
- 1960 births
- Swedish male butterfly swimmers
- Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Olympic swimmers for Sweden
- Living people
- Olympic gold medalists for Sweden
- World record setters in swimming
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
- Harvard Business School alumni
- Swedish expatriates in the United States
- Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists in swimming
- UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni