[2] Valdivieso holds a dual citizenship between his parents' nation Peru and the United States, where he currently resides.

He is also influenced by his grandfather Juan Valdivieso, who played for Peru's soccer team at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

In 1999, he graduated from Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, and deferred his acceptance to Princeton University for a year, so that he could train for his first Olympics.

Swimming in heat two of the men's 200 m butterfly, he edged out Thailand's Dulyarit Phuangthong to earn a fourth spot and thirty-sixth overall by 0.48 of a second in 2:03.67.

[1][5][6] In the 200 m butterfly, he challenged seven other swimmers in heat four, including top medal favorite Takashi Yamamoto of Japan.