Swimmy shiny Michael Phelps nabbed $1.6 million in his book deal with Simon & Schuster's imprint Free Press, according to the New York Post. Before she fell like a bazillionth-of-a-second away from Olympic gold, Phelps' teammate Dara Torres signed a reported $3-million book deal with Random House for her two books. Plenty of other past Olympians have attached their names to memoirs and autobiographies for serious upfront cash, but as the New York Times noted earlier this month, the window of opportunity to capitalize on an Olympic medal in the marketplace is pretty slim. Since Americans pay attention to the Olympics only when they're, you know, on, by the time a medalist sees publication, their once-adoring public isn't all that interested in forking over for their hardcover tale of guts and glory.

The highest Amazon ranking for scrappy gymnast Kerri Strug's 1996 book for kids, Heart of Gold, was 18,594, according to TitleZ, which tracks book sales over time. Knee-capped figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan's In My Own Words, met an even worse fate. Gold medal wrestler Rulon Gardner's Never Stop Pushing: My Life from a Wyoming Farm to the Olympic Medals Stand, almost broke into the top 1,000, but um, didn't. And Michael Phelps' first attempt at publishing pay dirt? Well, it sold around 9,000 copies. And that was after the swimmer wrapped up six gold medals in the 2004 Athens games.