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After narrowly missing qualifying for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Chris DeJong was determined to make it to Beijing in 2008. &ldquo;But he lost to Phelps by three-tenths of a second, effectively ending his Olympic dream,&rdquo; according to an article on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/success/chris-dejong-big-blue-swim-school/index.html?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=big-blue-swim-schools-founder-and-ceo-chris-dejong-lost-to-michael-phelps-but-found-franchising-gold-2709987" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank">CNN</a>. The loss, however, opened the door for DeJong to start Big Blue Swim School in 2012. &ldquo;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,&rdquo; 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. &ldquo;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&#39;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,&rdquo; said the article. 

Since then, &ldquo;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,&quot; the article said.

Read the full article <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/13/success/chris-dejong-big-blue-swim-school/index.html?utm_source=1851franchise.com&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=big-blue-swim-schools-founder-and-ceo-chris-dejong-lost-to-michael-phelps-but-found-franchising-gold-2709987" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" style="text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank">here</a>.

<div>&nbsp;</div>

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

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The splash-making swim instruction franchise is targeting as many as 400 locations nationwide over the next 10 years.

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