U.S. Gold Medalist Sprinter Tianna Madison Is Being Sued By Her Parents for Defamation

Tianna Madison, the Olympic sprinter who was part of the U.S. Women's gold medal-grabbing 4x100 team, is being sued by her parents, Robert and Jo Ann Madison, for libel, slander, and defamation. Why the litigious homecoming, you might ask? The lawsuit, filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland, alleges that Tianna has been calling her parents "selfish" people who mucked up her finances and, most egregiously, allowed a boy they knew had molested her back into their home when she was present.

The Madisons say they're totally the best parents ever, — loving, supportive, you know, all the good adjectives that parents are supposed to have hardwired into their behavior — which is part of the reason they're taking their daughter to court, to prove how supportive they are. Their suit also names Tianna's husband John Bartoletta, and asks for compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, as well as punitive damages in excess of $25,000. Since Olympic gold medals are pretty rare treasures, it's a shame that Tianna Madison has to cut her victory basking short to engage in a good old fashioned familial legal battle, but what better way is there, really, to celebrate American achievement than to revel in the country's proud tradition of litigiousness?

Tianna Madison, parents at odds [The Chronicle-Telegram]