Olympians going for startup gold

• Company: Water Sprites
• Olympic achievement: Silver medal for women's medley relay in swimming, 2004

After fulfilling a lifelong dream of medaling at the Olympics, Haley Clark retired from swimming and wanted to start a family right away. But she also wanted a career that allowed her to spend as much time with her kids as possible.

So within two years of competing in Athens in 2004, Clark opened her own swim school for kids, Water Sprites, in Chico, Calif.

"Once I had children, I didn't want to leave them," the 33-year-old said. "Opening a swim school allowed me to go to work and earn a living but also keep my children with me, which was really important." She takes her kids--Theron, 6; Liberty, 4; and Ansel, 1--to work with her. Her daughter even made the school's swim team when she was 2.

As a self-described goal-oriented person, Clark first started putting Water Sprites together when her first child was just four months old. In the beginning, she was the only employee, so she taught classes, balanced the books and even cleaned the bathrooms, working 80- to 100-hour weeks.

But all that work paid off. She now averages 10 employees and 650 swimmers a week, compared with the 96 when she first began. She still manages to teach classes, which she says is "the best part." Next up for the Olympian: Another school. She's currently scouting possible locations in nearby cities.

NEXT: Nick LaCava