---
title: "CNN Business: Losing to Michael Phelps helped turn this star swimmer into a successful entrepreneur"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/5cdada0a-6d7d-49fe-8269-1a4a0e97972d
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/cnn-business-losing-to-michael-phelps-helped-turn-this-star-swimmer-into-a-successful-entrepreneur-2709949
category: "Swim"
industry: "Education & Childcare"
segment: "Swim"
topics: ["Emerging brands"]
published: 2019-12-25T06:01:04.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:30:54.077Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/341f73a870eb8a960771a6720fff65bc6232.jpg
---

# CNN Business: Losing to Michael Phelps helped turn this star swimmer into a successful entrepreneur

**TL;DR:** Big Blue Swim School founder Chris DeJong turned his near-miss Olympic experience into a successful franchise opportunity, with 45 new locations expected by the end of 2019. The company plans to expand to 150 locations by 2020 in various markets.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-12-25. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/cnn-business-losing-to-michael-phelps-helped-turn-this-star-swimmer-into-a-successful-entrepreneur-2709949).*

## Story

Chris DeJong was ranked 4th in the U.S. and 5th in the world in the backstroke as a swimmer at the University of Michigan.

With the same coach as swimming legend Michael Phelps, DeJong missed qualifying for the 2008 Olympics by three-tenths of a second to Phelps. However, missing his Olympic dream fueled DeJong to found what would become Big Blue Swim School in 2009. Starting as a standalone school in Wilmette, Illinois, Big Blue Swim School grew from 600 to 2,200 families essentially overnight - leading the partners to open new locations throughout Illinois.

The company expects to have 45 new locations by the end of 2019 and 150 locations by 2020 in markets like Florida, Texas, Southern California, Denver, Charlotte, Northern New Jersey, Georgia and Washington, D.C.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Education & Childcare (sector)
- texas (location)
- Florida (location)
- franchise opportunity (topic)
- Georgia (location)
- Denver (location)
- Big Blue Swim School (company)
- charlotte (location)
- Washington, D.C. (location)
- Chris DeJong (person)
- Southern California (location)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/cnn-business-losing-to-michael-phelps-helped-turn-this-star-swimmer-into-a-successful-entrepreneur-2709949). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/5cdada0a-6d7d-49fe-8269-1a4a0e97972d).