The Flying Elephant Memoirs: 7 Essential Facts About Alexander Savin’s Olympic Book
The flying elephant memoirs promise the story of an Olympic champion, but ask three simple questions (which Games, which sport, which athlete) and most of the online reviews go quiet. Some never name a sport at all. Others repeat “Olympic champion” again and again without a single year, event, or medal.
This guide sorts what is actually verifiable about the book from what the review pages simply repeat. You’ll get the confirmed facts, the open questions, and a quick way to decide whether the book is for you.
A note on method: I could not open the Amazon page itself, so the book details below come from its search listing and from third-party reviews. The athlete’s record comes from Olympedia, the International Volleyball Hall of Fame and Wikipedia. I flag anything that rests on one source only.
The Short Answer
The flying elephant memoirs, formally titled The Flying Elephant: Memoirs of an Olympic Champion, is a Kindle sports memoir credited to Alexander Savin. The Amazon listing also names several contributors: Andrei Savine, Julia Savine, Peter Murphy and Alfredo Cabero, with roles that the listing title doesn’t spell out. One review says the author is the Soviet volleyball player who won gold at the 1980 Olympics. That is plausible and consistent with the public record, but I found no authoritative source that confirms the link between the book and that athlete, or that explains the “flying elephant” title.
7 Essential Facts About the Flying Elephant Memoirs
1. The Flying Elephant Memoirs Exist as a Kindle Edition
A listing for The Flying Elephant: Memoirs of an Olympic Champion appears in the Amazon Kindle Store under the author name Alexander Savin. Reviews describe it as a Kindle edition, and one adds a paperback. I could not confirm the paperback.
2. Several Contributors Are Credited
The listing names Andrei Savine (twice), Julia Savine, Peter Murphy and Alfredo Cabero alongside the author. One review calls Andrei Savine an editor or translator, but the roles are not confirmed anywhere I could open. The different spelling (Savin and Savine) is worth noticing if you search by name.
3. The Likely Author Is a Soviet Volleyball Olympian
Of the people named Aleksandr Savin on Wikipedia, only one is a documented Olympic gold medalist: Aleksandr Borisovich Savin, born July 1, 1957, in Taganrog, Russia, a middle blocker who played for the Soviet Union. One review states the book’s author won volleyball gold at the 1980 Olympics, which matches him. The other reviews I opened name no sport.
The honest wording is “very likely, not independently confirmed.” No source I could open links the book to him directly.
4. His Olympic Record Is Verified
Olympedia lists Savin with two Olympic medals in men’s volleyball for the Soviet Union: silver in 1976 (Montreal) and gold in 1980 (Moscow). The International Volleyball Hall of Fame says the Soviets beat Bulgaria 3-1 in the 1980 final and inducted Savin in 2010. Olympedia also credits him with European Championship golds in 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985, and World Championship golds in 1978 and 1982.
That is a long, well-documented career, which makes the “Olympic champion” label believable for this athlete. It does not prove he wrote this particular book.
5. The Title of the Flying Elephant Memoirs Is Unexplained
The Hall of Fame page, Olympedia and Wikipedia do not mention a nickname like “Flying Elephant.” One review offers a “symbolism” reading of the title, but it cites nothing. Until the book, an interview or an official source explains it, treat any explanation as the reviewer’s guess.
6. Reviews of the Flying Elephant Memoirs Agree on the Themes
The pages I opened agree on the broad content: training discipline, pressure at elite level, setbacks, self-doubt, the cost of success, and support from coaches, family and teammates. One review describes the tone as clear and reflective rather than dramatic, with little match-by-match detail. None quotes a passage, so these are summaries of a summary.
7. Basic Publishing Details Are Missing From the Reviews
None of the reviews I opened gives a publisher, publication date, page count, ISBN or price. One claims the Kindle edition includes more than 240 photographs spanning five decades, which doesn’t sit comfortably with the career span it describes, so treat that figure as unverified. For these details, go to the Amazon listing itself.
Why So Many Reviews of the Flying Elephant Memoirs Say So Little
Search for the flying elephant memoirs and you will find a long run of near-identical pages: “Complete Guide 2026,” “Worth Reading in 2026?,” “Shocking Truth,” and one site with dozens of similarly titled posts. The pages I opened share the same weaknesses:
- No bibliographic facts. No publisher, date or page count.
- No sport or Games. Several repeat “Olympic champion” without naming either.
- Inconsistent scoring. One review shows four stars in the header and 4.5 out of 5 in its verdict.
- Generic Kindle features. Adjustable fonts and highlighting apply to every Kindle book, not this one.
- Unclear reviewers. One byline belongs to a technology writer, not a sports or books reviewer, and the author slug on the page is a different name.
- No excerpts. Praise like “authentic” and “inspiring” comes with no quotes to back it up.
None of this proves the book is bad. It means the reviews can’t tell you whether it’s good. For a similar pattern with people, see our note on spam biography pages around Matthew Mario Rivera, and for how to vet a site that publishes broad, thinly sourced pages, see our guide to TozyMagazine.com.
Don’t Confuse It With These Other “Flying Elephant” Titles
Searches for the flying elephant memoirs also surface unrelated works:
- Dumbo, the Flying Elephant: the children’s story that inspired the Disney film.
- The Flying Elephants: A History of No. 27 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps-Royal Air Force, 1915-69: an aviation history by Chaz Bowyer.
- Memoirs of a White Elephant: a translation of Judith Gautier’s French novel, available on Project Gutenberg.
If you are looking for the Olympic memoir, check that the listing says Alexander Savin and “Memoirs of an Olympic Champion.”
How to Check an Athlete Memoir Before You Buy
You can verify most of what matters in about ten minutes:
- Look up the athlete. Olympedia lists Olympic results, birth details and affiliations for every Olympian. If the author claims a medal, it should appear there.
- Check a hall of fame or federation page. The International Volleyball Hall of Fame entry for Aleksandr Savin gives his medals and the year he was inducted.
- Open the retailer listing. Confirm the author name, contributors, publication date and any “Look inside” or sample option.
- Read the sample. A Kindle sample shows you the voice and pacing before you spend anything.
- Be wary of reviews with no specifics. If a review cannot name a year, an event or a quote, it hasn’t told you much.
Who Might Enjoy It
Based on what reviewers say about its themes, the flying elephant memoirs may suit readers who like reflective sports writing about discipline, pressure and the cost of elite competition, and anyone curious about Soviet-era volleyball. It is likely a weaker fit if you want detailed match-by-match analysis or technical coaching, since reviewers say the book doesn’t focus on that. Read the sample first, because no review I opened offers the kind of evidence that would justify a firm recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the flying elephant memoirs? A Kindle sports memoir titled The Flying Elephant: Memoirs of an Olympic Champion, credited to Alexander Savin.
Who wrote the flying elephant memoirs? The author is listed as Alexander Savin. One review identifies him as the Soviet volleyball player who won 1980 Olympic gold, which fits the public record but isn’t confirmed by an authoritative source I could open.
Which Olympics did the author win? If he is the volleyball player Aleksandr Savin, Olympedia and the International Volleyball Hall of Fame list silver in 1976 and gold in 1980 for the Soviet Union.
What does the title of the flying elephant memoirs mean? No source I found explains it. The title is not tied to a documented nickname.
Are the flying elephant memoirs available as a paperback? One review says so. I could only confirm a Kindle edition, so check the Amazon listing.
Is the flying elephant memoirs worth reading? It depends on what you want. Reviewers describe a reflective book on discipline and pressure, but they give no quotes, so read the Kindle sample first.
Is it the same as the Disney story about a flying elephant? No. That is Dumbo, an unrelated children’s story.
Bottom Line
The flying elephant memoirs is a real Kindle memoir credited to Alexander Savin, and the most likely author is a Soviet volleyball player with a verified Olympic record: silver in 1976 and gold in 1980. What the reviews can’t tell you is why it’s titled “the flying elephant,” who the contributors are, or what the book actually says. Verify the athlete on Olympedia, check the Amazon listing for publishing details, and read the Kindle sample before you decide.
