Athlete Jana Pittman recently welcomed her daughter Emily, a sister for Cornelis, aged 7; Cornelis is the son of Jana’s former husband, English athlete Chris Rawlinson. Emily was conceived via IVF using donor sperm. Jana had had two miscarriages, and had been diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition of the cervix, so felt that this might be her only chance to give Cornelis a sibling – he chose the name Cora for his sister’s name, because it’s similar to his own.

Jana is a two-time world champion in the 400 metre hurdles, has won multiple gold medals at Commonwealth games, and is one of only nine atheletes to have won world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event. She also competed in the bobsleigh event at the 2014 Winter Olympics, making her the first Australian female athlete to have competed at both the Summer and Winter Olympic games. Jana is currently training for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Ski-ier Lydia Lassila, and her husband, retired Finnish ski champ Lauri Lassila, welcomed their son Alek in February, a brother for Kai, who is nearly 4 [pictured]. They chose the name Alek because when he was born, his hands were so tightly clenched that the midwife could not uncurl them, so they wanted a name denoting strength, and “defender of men” seemed strong; they also wanted a name which worked in both English and Finnish. Lydia won gold in freestyle ski-ing at the 2010 Olympics, and bronze at the 2014 Olympics.