We heard last week that Built to Succeed, the autobiography of Michael Phelps, will be published in December by Simon & Schuster's Free Press imprint. But today we learn just how much gold the Olympic champ raked in from the deal: $1.6 million. Earlier this month, Phelps's agent, Peter Carlisle, told the Wall Street Journal that he thought Phelps stands to make $100 million in endorsements in his lifetime. Only $98.4 million to go!

Meanwhile, fellow Olympic fan favorite Dara Torres has a book deal, too. She'll be writing a fitness guide and her own autobiography. The bio, like Phelps's, is billed as an "inspirational memoir."

Oh, hell. Don't they know you can't write those anymore? Thus begins the decline of two great American heroes.

PHELPS POOLING THE GOLD [NYP]