Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images

Gabby Douglas, here on the podium on Aug. 2, is fielding offers to write a book.

She's the darling of Olympic gymnastics with her bright smile and gold medal. Now, Gabby Douglas has become a sought-after target for book publishers.

The 16-year-old, the first African-American woman to ever win the gold in the Olympic all-around competition, is currently fielding numerous book offers, according to her agent, Sheryl Shade.

“I have about five solid offers and at least 12 inquiries in total,’’ Shade told TODAY.com on Thursday. “I just haven’t had a chance to speak with them all. I think within the next week she will agree to do one.’’

People

Gabby's People magazine cover.

Shade has represented several gymnasts who have starred in the Olympics over the years, including special TODAY.com correspondent Shawn Johnson, who won gold in 2008 in Beijing. Shade has also worked with Shannon Miller, Paul Hamm and Dominique Moceanu, securing high-profile deals for a host of gymnasts.  

Douglas has already secured an appearance on a special-edition Kellogg's Corn Flakes box and is featured on the cover of the latest issue of People magazine. She signed a deal with Procter & Gamble before the Olympics, and an Aug. 3 report by Forbes estimated Douglas will earn, at a minimum, between $2-3 million annually in endorsements over the next two years. 

Douglas' potential book may focus on her faith. Three of the publishers who have approached Shade are from Christian imprints.

“They are asking for an inspirational autobiography,’’ Shade said. “You’re 16 years old — you can’t have a big autobiography. Gabby is driven by quotes and inspirational passages that people send to her.’’

“I would love to put out a book," Douglas told TODAY.com. "My mom and I want to let people know about us and how we overcame hard times.” 

She said she’d even like to cover her balance-beam fall at the 2011 Visa Championships, which she described as “horrific."

"I fell a thousand times. I want people to see that you can overcome,” she said. "I would tell my life story and make it not just about gymnastics.” 

Nicknamed the “Flying Squirrel,’’ Douglas has broad appeal for the youth market with her story of hard work, sacrifice and achievement at such a young age.

Douglas says the biggest challenge will be those first few words. “Where do I start? Does my mom start, do I start?" she said. "She will be part of the process.” 

More: Missy Franklin: Amateur status 'still the plan right now' 
Gabby Douglas' gold worth millions in endorsement deals 
Gabby Douglas' mom weighs in on hair controversy 
Read all of TODAY.com's Olympics coverage here! 
Gabby Douglas: Gold medals are made of 'sweat, blood and tears' 
Video: Olympic gymnasts take celebratory London tour

Andrew Gombert / EPA

US Alexandra Raisman competes in the Floor Exercise final at the London 2012 Olympic Games Artistic Gymnastics competition, on London, Aug. 7.

Hannah Johnston / Getty Images

Alexandra Raisman of the United States competes in the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise final on Day 11 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on Aug. 7, 2012 in London, England.

Mike Blake / Reuters

Alexandra Raisman of the U.S. competes in the women's gymnastics floor exercise final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games on Aug. 7.

Hannah Johnston / Getty Images

Alexandra Raisman of the United States competes in the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise final on Day 11 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on Aug. 7, in London, England.

Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images

A young US supporter waves a flag after the women' s floor exercise gymnastics final on Aug. 7.

AP reports -- Aly Raisman finished the Olympics in style.

The U.S. captain matched Gabby Douglas in gold medals, winning the title on floor exercise Tuesday. Add in the bronze on balance beam from earlier in the day, and she becomes the most decorated of the Fierce Five.

Good thing Raisman had such a big day because the rest of the Americans came up empty-handed. Douglas had another rough day, finishing seventh on balance beam after a fall. World champion Jordyn Wieber, voted most likely to leave the Olympics with the biggest haul, was seventh on floor and finishes without any individual medals.

Continue reading.

Related links:

• A moment of true sportsmanship, as Japan consoles a defeated France
• Roger Federer defeats Juan Martin del Potro in longest-ever Olympic tennis match
• Gabby Douglas gets the gold at the Olympic games
• Phelps beats Lochte in 200 IM in final duel
• Photographing the Olympic athletes at 14 frames per second
• Boris Johnson, London mayor, stuck on a zip line
  

Scott Heavey / Getty Images

Alexandra Raisman of the United States competes in the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise final on Day 11 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on Aug. 7.

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

Alexandra Raisman of the United States hugs coach Mihai Brestyan after winning the gold medal for the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise final on Day 11 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at North Greenwich Arena on Aug. 7, in London, England.

Rolf Vennenbernd / EPA

Alexandra Raisman of the US celebrates with her gold medal in the women's floor exercise at the London 2012 Olympic Games Artistic Gymnastics, on Aug. 7.

Slideshow: Olympic Emotional Moments

/

Click for more from the 2012 summer games in London.

Launch slideshow

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

Dave Hogan / NBC News

Gabby Douglas and her mom, Natalie Hawkins, on TODAY after Team USA's gold-medal win.

Just before the scoreboard showed that Gabby Douglas had won the gold in individual gymnastics last week, her mom Natalie Hawkins had only one reaction: relief. It was relief that came after ten years of training, after her daughter said she dreamt of being an Olympian, and after she let her daughter move away from home at 14 to chase her dreams.

The relief didn't last long, as Hawkins soon found herself defending her daughter's hair, which had been swiftly criticized for being both “unkempt” and “embarrassing” very soon after Douglas made Olympic history.

In an interview with gymnastics gold medalist Dominique Dawes, Hawkins said when she first saw the comments she was confused. "Because I was looking at the pictures and I was like, 'I'm missing it,' because I don't see what they're talking about. I mean, she doesn't have fly-aways all sticking out, it's not like it's all over her head. It's pulled back into a ponytail."

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

Gabby Douglas has been deflecting online commentary about her hair.

Hawkins went on to describe the specific way gymnasts must tie their hair back so that it doesn't interfere with their tumbling. 

As her daughter competed, Hawkins thought of Douglas sharing a place in the history books alongside Dawes, who was the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic medal in gymnastics. Hawkins told Dawes that when she imagined Gabby winning the gold she thought of her sharing "that amazing feat with people like the likes of you, and so that was exciting for me to know, that she would be counted on a level and in a category with you and all the other gymnastic greats."

She was not considering her daughter's ponytail.

According to Dawes, it shouldn't be a consideration. "As an athlete you are not focused on your appearance or you're not going to make those achievements," she said.

The attention over Douglas's hair gained ground once it hit Twitter. One user tweeted, “I love Gabby Douglas, but I'm mad at whoever keeps letting her wear that half wig and that silky ponytail on the back of some nappy hair.” Another suggested she did not belong on camera.

If Douglas has been fazed she hasn’t shown it, continuing to wear her hair the same way throughout the games. Fans have encouraged her along the way, many coming to her defense. TODAY's Al Roker tweeted Tuesday, "Anybody who has a problem w/Gabby Douglas' hair needs to sit down and be quiet. Enjoy and focus on the accomplishments."

When Hawkins spoke about the hair controversy to Fashionista.com, she said that she herself was once guilty of prioritizing her daughter's hair before her training, and had to be reminded that it had nothing to do with her career. “It was actually her coach who told me that,” she said. “I was trying to get her into a hair appointment and I wanted to move her training schedule around and he said to me, ‘She’s beautiful. You don’t need to change her hair. We need to focus on training.’"

Douglas lives and trains in Des Moines, Iowa, with a host family, Hawkins reminded Fashionista.com. "She lives with a white host family and they don’t know anything about taking care of her hair," she said. "And there’s no black salons in their area — not one. We had to work really hard to find a stylist to come and do her hair... It’s really been African-American women that have come out and attacked her. They don’t know about gymnastics. She has to keep her hair in a ponytail 28-30 hours a week."

Hair, especially among African-American women, has long been a cause of contentious discussion. As TODAY.com reported last week, media queen Oprah recently went au naturel for the cover of her magazine's September issue, which hits the stands today. The cover has sparked everything from widespread support to accusations that she isn’t wearing her real hair.

Douglas herself has summed up the controversy, echoing her mom’s statements in an interview with the Associated Press. "'I just made history and people are focused on my hair? It can be bald or short; it doesn't matter about (my) hair,'" she said.

More: Gabby Douglas: Gold medals are made of sweat, blood and tears
Video: Gabby Douglas is welcomed by gymnastics legends Mary Lou Retton, Carly Patterson, and Nastia Liukin
Golden Gabby! Read Shawn Johnson's analysis of gymnastics all-around finals 
TODAY Moms: Sweet photo of white dad doing black daughter's hair goes viral 

American gymnast Gabby Douglas picked up the gold in the women's all-around finals.

Russian Viktoria Komova placed second. Aly Raisman, the other American in competition, placed fourth. Due to a tie-breaking rule, she narrowly missed out on a bronze medal despite receiving the same point score as Russia's Aliya Mustafina. Read the full story on NBCOlympics.com.

TODAY.com special correspondent Shawn Johnson, who won silver in the event in Beijing, live-blogged her analysis; follow it below.

Questions? Tweet @ShawnJohnson by using the hashtag #OlympicsTODAY.

More on TODAY.com: 
Let them live their dream: Parents of 'Fab Five' offer advice 
U.S. gymnast's dad 'embarrassed' watching viral video 
'We. Won.' Shawn Johnson live-blogs gymnastics finals 

Daniel Garcia / AFP/Getty Images

Gymnast Shannon Miller, back in the '90s, rocked gloriously fluffy scrunchies.

Shannon Lee Miller isn’t only the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, winning nearly 20 world championships and earning 7 Olympic medals. She is also known for her hair scrunchies.

The hair scrunchie seems to have endured in the gymnastic world even as it has been mostly abandoned by the masses. 

Jamie Squire / Getty Images

Team USA's Kyla Ross hugs coach Jenny Zhang on Tuesday in London, sporting the much-maligned '80s accessory.

Amateur gymnast Lindsey Green remembers Miller’s scrunchies well, back when she was a young gymnast just coming up in the world.  “Look back to Shannon Miller’s huge fluffy white scrunchies," she told TODAY.com. "We even made fun of them in the nineties when we were gymnasts. They were so epic.” Green is a staunch scrunchie wearer and one of the few gymnasts who will admit it. 
 
Not to say they haven't been found on the mat during the 2012 Olympics. When the U.S. women's gymnastics team took the gold in London, 2 of the 7 team members were sporting scrunchies. Other countries have wrapped their hair in the plush holders, including Russia, Romania and China.

Watch TODAY video: Mary Lou Retton: U.S. gymnastics 'spanked' Russians

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

McKayla Maroney celebrates her performance on the vault on Tuesday.

“In today’s fashion forward world, I don’t know why they’re OK,” said Shawn Johnson, gold medal gymnast and TODAY.com special correspondent. “I never wore them in competition. I wore ribbons. A rubber band covered in glittery fabric sticking out of your head — what is that?”

Viewers noticed the scrunchies as well and many took to Twitter to discuss it. ESPN broadcaster Samantha Steele said, "I've noticed many things while watching late night gymnastics. Most notable: the scrunchie is alive and well." Another user tweeted, "Gymnastics: single-handedly keeping scrunchie manufacturers in business."

There are several theories from the gymnasts themselves about why they wear them. Johnson maintains it’s all about letting your individual fashion sense show on the mat. “Gymnastics doesn’t give much leniency in terms of what you can wear: can’t wear nail polish, jewelry, can’t have tattoos. So people come up with glitter clips, hairdos.”

Watch TODAY video: Gabby Douglas: Calm down, I'm going to catch the bar 

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images

Russia's Victoria Komova performs on the beam on Tuesday in London, her hair held back with a scrunchie.

Gymnast Alicia Sacramone told Fashionista.com she is against scrunchies, and not because they are lacking the fashion factor but because she thinks of them as bad omens. “I honestly think they’re bad luck and I hate them. I don’t know why people think they’re so great and why they’re still a trend." She said that some girls must think scrunchies are good luck. “I think each competitor has a superstitious thing that works for them,” she said.

Green maintains that it isn’t the aesthetic, but function that are key to their popularity. "I don’t know what they make these things out of but they just hold your hair so much better than a regular elastic," she said. "It’s so solid and you could literally do 100 back-flips and your hair would really not come out of the scrunchie. If your hair is in your face and you’re trying to balance on a beam you’ve got a big problem in front of you.”

Still, Green does harbor some scrunchie-related insecurities. "I only use black ones because they match my hair and I don’t want anyone to see it,” she said. "I have some scrunchie shame. I would prefer that no one saw.”

Shawn Johnson is calling for an even more extreme approach. “I think something needs to change,” she told TODAY.com. “It’s like Hammer pants. It’s something that’s never been good that won’t go away.”

TODAY.com contributor Jillian Eugenios has scrunchies hidden in her desk drawer. Don't tell anybody.

More: Click here for all of TODAY.com's Olympics coverage! 
Video: Elfi Schlegel: Gymnasts have great shot at more medals
Video: Gabby Douglas: 'I knew we could do it'
Shawn Johnson: Watching Team USA take gold was 'surreal' 
10,000 and counting! Pin collector chases Olympic metal 
Obama calls gymnasts, tweets Phelps: 'You make our country proud'  
Join Shawn Johnson, swimmers jumping for TODAY! 

Contorting in the stands with their daughter's every flip on the uneven bars, the parents of U.S. gymnast Aly Raisman became a viral sensation when NBC cameras caught them urging her to “stick it’’ in her final routine on Sunday.

Rick and Lynn Raisman could only laugh at their own expressive body language as they watched the video during an interview with Natalie Morales on TODAY Tuesday. The Raismans had reason to be excited in their now-famous clip, as Aly stunned the field in the qualifying round on Sunday to advance to the individual all-around finals. In the process, she bumped out teammate (and gold medal favorite) Jordyn Wieber.

Raisman’s performance was a big story on its own, but her mom and dad joined her in the headlines by showing the type of emotion familiar to any parents dealing with the anxiety of watching their child compete. On Monday morning, Aly tweeted, “I love my parents,’’ and attached a clip of the video.

“It was such a relief when she finished the event,’’ Rick told Morales. “There’s just so much pressure and it’s just so magnified. I’m embarrassed watching (the video) now. You don’t even realize it. You’re just so locked in, it’s just unreal.’’

“I knew he was moving,’’ Lynn said of her husband. “I had no idea I was moving that much.’’

Rick stood up and pumped his fist in celebration while Lynn cried tears of joy once they realized their daughter was now one step away from her dream of an individual Olympic medal. They knew Aly had reached the finals before she did.

“She doesn’t always watch her scores,’’ her mother said. “I said, ‘Did you know how close you were going into the last event?' She said, ‘No I didn’t look at the scores.’ Her coach is usually happy at the end, but he was really, really happy, and she said, ‘I had no idea.’’’

Aly’s ecstasy was Wieber’s agony, as the reigning all-around world champion is now out of the running for an individual all-around gold medal. Wieber finished fourth overall in Sunday’s qualifier, but international rules state that only two competitors from the same country can advance. Since Raisman and teammate Gabby Douglas finished ahead of Wieber, she was eliminated from a finals berth.

“(Aly) felt terrible,’’ Lynn Raisman said. “It’s always terrible that there’s a two per-country rule. When you’re from a country like the U.S. where’s there’s five girls who really could do it if they were all given a chance to compete in the all-around, it could be any number of them. It’s really hard.’’

Wieber will still compete in Tuesday’s team finals, with the United States being the favorite to win its first gymnastics gold medal as a team since 1996.

“If they just go in and do what they’re capable of doing, no question they’ll do it,’’ Lynn said. “They’re a good group, they’re so close, they’re so focused and so determined that I’m really hopeful.”

“Today is the most important day for the team,’’ Rick said. “That’s what they’re here for first. We just wish them all the best and hopefully they can do their thing.’’

Read More:

Watching your child compete: The agony and the ecstasy of Aly Raisman's parents

Missy Franklin's mom: 'She's always been smiling'

Read all of TODAY's 2012 Olympics coverage!

TODAY has been getting up close and personal with Team USA all week long. We learned what makes these superhuman athletes tick -- and the quirks that make them just like us. Watch video of our Top 5 favorite moments as these competitors gear up for the Games. 

Shawn Johnson has a message to Olympians who get the urge to jump on social media: Be careful.

The London Olympics are being called the first ‘social media Games,’ where more fans than ever before will flock to Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere to follow the action.

Johnson, TODAY.com’s special correspondent and 2008 gymnastics gold medalist, warned against athletes getting too wrapped up in social media at the expense of their primary focus. Johnson has 189,000 Twitter followers, so she is well aware of the impact it can make.

“I think it can (be a distraction) if they allow it,’’ Johnson told Al Roker on TODAY in London Friday. “I think they need to almost censor it themselves. There’s going to be a lot of critics, a lot of opinions, a lot of competitors on social media that are going to say and do what they want, and if they read that, it can get to them, but it can also connect the world.’’

The dangers of social media for athletes during the Games came into focus this week when a Greek triple-jumper was removed from the team when a tweet about African immigrants was deemed racist. Voula Papachristou was dismissed by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, which announced that she was placed “outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement.’’

After winning three medals in Beijing in 2008, including a gold in the balance beam, Johnson, 20, is adjusting to life on the other side of the spectacle as a member of the media. She retired in June, three weeks before the Olympic trials, because of a nagging knee injury she suffered while skiing.

“It’s a little bittersweet,’’ she said. “I would give anything to be on the team, but coming up a little short and having to retire was the best decision to me. Now getting to interview athletes and have fun with it, it’s going to be interesting.’’

She plans on taking in Friday’s Opening Ceremony as a spectator, four years after she entered as part of the American team in Beijing.

“It’s going to be weird,’’ she said. “I would love to be walking through it. I’ll probably get a little emotional even, but it’s going to be cool seeing my teammates walk through, and I’m very proud of them.’’

More:

Shawn Johnson: 'Going to London is bittersweet' 
Gold star: Medalist Shawn Johnson joins TODAY.com Olympic team 
Follow Shawn on Twitter 
Shawn Johnson on her new book, 'Winning Balance' 
London eyes: Behind the scenes with TODAY staffers

Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

As Jordyn Wieber aims for Olympic stardom, she has already achieved a huge goal: A spot on a cereal box.

While a potential shot at a gold medal waits in London, gymnastics star Jordyn Wieber has already achieved a special type of Olympic immortality — a spot in the cereal aisle.

The boxes came on Wednesday, prompting the 17-year-old from Michigan to tweet, “Look what was delivered to my house today! Can’t wait for them to be on shelves.’’

“I was so excited,’’ Wieber told TODAY.com. “I never thought I would be on the front of a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box. It was the most surreal thing. Even just recently, walking through the grocery store and seeing Summer Sanders and Kerri Walsh on there, it’s just so cool to see all those Olympians and know that’s going to be me next.’’

Getting a spot on a box also illustrates the high expectations for Wieber, who is the reigning world all-around champion. Now she just needs to do her best to bring home a gold, which then may lead to another one of her major goals — meeting Justin Bieber. Hanging with the Biebs, of course, is #2. 

“I have to say the gold medal would be probably a lot cooler,’’ she said. “Meeting Justin Bieber would be awesome, too.’’

She is hoping to spread “Wieber Fever’’ from the Midwest all the way to London after years of support from her hometown and fellow students at Dewitt High School in Dewitt, Mich. To keep the "fever" from spreading, her supporters will often wear surgical masks and T-shirts imprinted with the malady. 

Jordyn has caught “Wieber Fever’’ herself — her older brother, Ryan, was a star quarterback at Dewitt who inspired his own following during a state playoff run in the fall. Jordyn was right there with her own costume surgical mask in the stands, cheering him on.

“It’s a lot of fun just knowing that I can share that spotlight with my brother,’’ she said. “We can both have our different sports and it’s exciting to see him do well."

Jeff Roberson / AP

Jordyn Wieber takes a leap on the balance beam during the women's senior division at the U.S. gymnastics championships on June 10.

The elite gymnast has maintained a sense of normalcy during her ascension to stardom by continuing to attend her local high school.

Watch video: Olympic legend Mark Spitz: Sports give kids 'hope'

“I think just staying in school part-time has helped me a lot. It balances out my lifestyle," she said. "I’m able to go to training and then go to school, which takes my mind off gymnastics. Having a different group of friends outside of gymnastics has also definitely helped me over the years.’’

To fulfill her golden goal in London, Wieber will have to break a jinx that goes back to well before she was born. Since 1972, only one woman has won the all-around title at the World Championships and then followed that with an Olympic all-around title. No American woman has accomplished the feat in the last 40 years, as Shawn Johnson won the world all-around title in 2007 but took second behind teammate Nastia Liukin in the 2008 Olympics.

Story: Gymnast Shawn Johnson ends Olympic bid: 'I feel numb'

“I try not to think about the jinx too much,’’ Wieber said. “I try to focus on my own training, but it definitely makes me want to reach that goal even more and make it to the top of that podium.’’

Wieber has an intense focus she has shown in tight competitions like the recent national championships. With fellow Olympic hopeful Gabby Douglas neck-and-neck with her throughout, Wieber won the all-around title by just 0.2 points over Douglas.

“I think it motivates me a little bit more just knowing the scores are so close, and knowing that I’m going to need to get every tenth out of every routine helps me do better in the competition,’’ Wieber said. “I think a lot of it just comes from my personality, but at the same time I have to practice every day. I do a lot with all the girls in the gym watching me at one time and translate that over to the whole crowd having their eyes on me at one time. I think I train my mind to compete under pressure.’’

Anointed American gymnastics' “it girl,’’ Wieber is ready, post-trials, to take on that pressure in London, which may be her best shot at Olympic accolades. The window of time for gymnastics stardom can often be short. Liukin, only 22, is now fighting just to get a spot on the team at the upcoming trials.

“I think every gymnast is different, and some girls are coming back at an older age, but this is my time right now,’’ she said. “I just try to put everything I have into this year and this summer.’’

More: Video: Olympic hopefuls say 'Thank you, Mom' 
Fashion lover Ryan Lochte has 130 pairs of shoes 
Gymnast Shawn Johnson ends Olympic bid: 'I feel numb' 
Michael Phelps' mom: Don't push kids into sports