---
title: "Big Blue Swim School’s Founder and CEO Chris DeJong Lost to Michael Phelps, But Found Franchising Gold"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/92aa6911-ac86-4bda-a8d2-8fec96c75958
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/big-blue-swim-schools-founder-and-ceo-chris-dejong-lost-to-michael-phelps-but-found-franchising-gold-2709987
category: "Swim"
industry: "Education & Childcare"
segment: "Swim"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2019-05-17T01:20:28.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:34:54.701Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/0d36ace3df222483cad31ee338c298899642.jpg
---

# Big Blue Swim School’s Founder and CEO Chris DeJong Lost to Michael Phelps, But Found Franchising Gold

**TL;DR:** Big Blue Swim School, founded by Chris DeJong in 2012, aims to expand to 400 locations nationwide in the next 10 years after turning into a franchise. The company has raised $20 million in funding, including $16 million from Level 5 Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in the company.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-05-17. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/big-blue-swim-schools-founder-and-ceo-chris-dejong-lost-to-michael-phelps-but-found-franchising-gold-2709987).*

## Story

After narrowly missing qualifying for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Chris DeJong was determined to make it to Beijing in 2008. “ But he lost to Phelps by three-tenths of a second, effectively ending his Olympic dream,” according to an article on CNN . The loss, however, opened the door for DeJong to start Big Blue Swim School in 2012. “The school currently operates five locations in and around Chicago. After turning the operation into a franchise last October, DeJong is hoping there will be as many as 400 locations nationwide in the next 10 years,” the article said.

After his Olympics bid ended, DeJong taught swim lessons privately for several years before his clientele base grew too large, at which point he sought investors. “One of the first investors to come on board was Chicago Cubs co-owner and Republican National Committee Finance Chairman Todd Ricketts, whose daughter was already DeJong's student. Ricketts and a few other early investors together invested $1.2 million, which helped DeJong secure the location to build a permanent pool,” said the article.

Since then, “Big Blue Swim School has raised a total of $20 million, including $16 million from Level 5 Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in the company and is a franchising partner," the article said.

Katie LaTour is a staff writer for 1851 Franchise and Estatenvy. She has experience in copywriting, editing and translation, and has written content for brands including Coca-Cola, Ivivva and Ray Ban's. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University and a B.A. in English and Spanish from the University of Dayton. Presently, Katie is working on a poetry collection and building a platform for Chicago creative professionals to share best practices.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Education & Childcare (sector)
- franchising (topic)
- expansion (topic)
- Big Blue Swim School (company)
- Coke (company)
- Chris DeJong (person)
- Level 5 Capital Partners (investor)
- swim school (topic)
- funding (topic)
- Level 5 Capital Partners acquisition of Big Blue Swim School (deal)
- Michael Phelps (person)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/big-blue-swim-schools-founder-and-ceo-chris-dejong-lost-to-michael-phelps-but-found-franchising-gold-2709987). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/92aa6911-ac86-4bda-a8d2-8fec96c75958).