Daughter's new CPR skills save father, and more

Daughter's new CPR skills save father

When Lauren Kornacki took a CPR class last week in Glen Allen, Va., she had no idea she’d be using her lifesaving skills the very next day on her own father. Alec Kornacki was working beneath his car when the jack slipped and the vehicle fell on him. Lauren, 22, was first on the scene, and managed to lift the 3,300-pound car enough to pull her unconscious father out. Using the skills she’d learned to be a summer lifeguard, Lauren then kept her father alive until paramedics arrived. He is expected to make a full recovery. “I’m in awe of her,” said Lauren’s mom.

The cult hero of the 2012 Olympics

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An Olympic rower from Niger who sat in a boat for the first time three months ago has become the unlikely cult hero of this summer’s Olympic Games. Hamadou Djibo Issaka was handed a wild card to compete in the men’s rowing, despite hailing from a landlocked country that is 80 percent desert. During his trial heat this week, Djibo Issaka finished far behind the next-to-last competitor, but received a standing ovation from the 20,000-strong crowd, who cheered the exhausted novice across the finish line. Djibo Issaka, dubbed “the Sculling Sloth” by the British press, has vowed to compete again in 2016.

Jake Gibb’s journey to the Olympics

It’s hard for any Olympic athlete to get to the Games, but Jake Gibb’s journey to London was tougher than most. Twenty months ago, the U.S. beach volleyball player discovered he had testicular cancer. He underwent emergency surgery, and assumed he’d be unable to compete in London. But when he discovered he was healthy enough to avoid chemotherapy, Gibb threw himself back into competition, and he and his partner, Sean Rosenthal, took the final qualifying spot for Team USA. “I’m glad I’m on his team,” said Rosenthal, “’cause as far as I’m concerned, he can beat anything.”