The week's good news: October 10, 2019

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1. Penguin that took a very long journey returned to the wild after successful rehabilitation
2. Woman who learned to swim at 57 now a defending Ironman triathlon champion
3. After winning a field goal contest, teen donates prize to rival coach battling cancer
4. Florida bus driver helps save 3 lives in 2 years
5. Simone Biles breaks record by winning 21st medal

published 10 October 2019

1. Penguin that took a very long journey returned to the wild after successful rehabilitation

After spending the summer gaining weight and building up muscle, a Fiordland penguin rescued from an Australian river was released back into the wild last month. Fiordland penguins are native to New Zealand, and officials said they don't know how this penguin was able to travel 1,500 miles from New Zealand to Melbourne. By the time the penguin was discovered, it had lost a lot of weight and was tired. Veterinarians at the Melbourne Zoo nursed the penguin back to health, and after two months, determined he was strong enough to go home. The penguin was released off the coast of Melbourne. There are 5,000 Fiordland penguins in the wild, and Dr. Michael Lynch, the Melbourne Zoo's head of veterinary services, said he's "hopeful this penguin will find its way back to New Zealand and eventually breed. We've given it every chance to do so."

An invitation to participate in an indoor triathlon 16 years ago changed the course of Bobbe Greenberg's life. The 73-year-old retired teacher from Illinois was intrigued by the idea, but had to overcome one thing in order to take part: She didn't know how to swim, so at 57, Greenberg started taking lessons. She ended up winning first place in the indoor triathlon, and caught the bug. She now trains at least 15 hours every week, and on Saturday, will be in Hawaii for the Ironman World Championship triathlon. The defending women's age 70-74 champion, Greenberg expects to finish swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean, riding a bike for 112 miles, and running a marathon in 14 or 15 hours. The entire process is "exhilarating," she told The Washington Post. "I think it's that feeling of youthfulness or vibrancy ... There's something it gives to me that I'm not able to get in any other way in my life."

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After a making a perfect 30-yard field goal and winning a year's worth of free food, a California teenager instantly donated the prize to her rival high school's football coach, who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. John Langilotti is the coach at Bonita High School in La Verne, while Tiffany Gomez is a junior at Glendora High School in Glendora. On Friday, the schools met for their annual football game, and during halftime, Gomez participated in a field goal contest. She won free food for a year from a local Chick-fil-A, but since her grandmother has cancer, she knows how hard it can hit a family, and chose to give Langilotti her prize. "For a young lady like her to come out and want to provide this generosity for a family in need just brought tears to my eyes and I was ever so grateful," Langilotti told NBC 4 Los Angeles.

Thanks to her ability to stay cool, calm, and collected, bus driver Laronda Marshall has helped save the lives of three people since November 2017. A former certified nursing assistant, Marshall works for Miami-Dade Transit in Florida. In late September, a passenger approached her and said another man on the bus was slumped over and appeared to be ill. After calling for help, Marshall gave the man CPR until first responders arrived. Paramedics later told her if she hadn't performed CPR, the man would not have survived. Marshall told The Miami Herald she has "a love for people, and my instinct is to jump in and help." This was not the first or even second time she's had to react fast to save a person — in November 2017, she assisted a man in the street who had been hit by a car, and a month later, found a lost child and delivered her to safety.

The United States women's team won the all-around title Tuesday at the world gymnastics championships in Germany, giving standout Simone Biles a record 21st medal. Biles now has 15 career gold medals. With Tuesday's team win, she is no longer tied with Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina for the most overall medals earned by a woman at the world championships. Vitaly Scherbo holds the record for both men and women, with 23 medals. Biles had the best individual scores for the floor, balance beam, and vault, and said that every year, "it feels better and better just because we're adding to the legacy. I feel like I never think of records. I just go out there and do what I came to do, which is compete for the country."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.