The US gymnastics world was only just recovering from a devastating sexual abuse scandal when a promising young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions. Liang "Chow" Qiao, the owner of Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, thought highly enough of his new hire, Sean Gardner, to put him in charge of the club's premier junior event and to coach some of its most promising girls, per the AP. But four years later, Gardner was gone from Chow's with little notice. USA Gymnastics, the organization rocked by the Larry Nassar sex-abuse crisis that led to the creation of the US Center for SafeSport, had been informed by the watchdog group that Gardner was suspended from all contact with gymnasts.
The reason for Gardner's removal wasn't disclosed. But court records obtained exclusively by the AP show the coach was accused of sexually abusing at least three young gymnasts at Chow's and secretly recording others undressing in a gym bathroom at his prior job at Jump'In Gymnastics in Mississippi. Last week, more than three years after being suspended from coaching, the FBI arrested Gardner, 38, on a federal child pornography charge. But his disciplinary case still hasn't been resolved by SafeSport, which handles sex-abuse cases in Olympic sports. In cases like Gardner's, the public can be in the dark for years while SafeSport investigates and sanctions coaches. SafeSport requires that allegations be reported to police to ensure abusers don't run unchecked outside of sports, but critics say the system is a slow, murky process.
While acknowledging there can be delays as its investigations unfold, SafeSport defended its temporary suspensions in a statement as "a unique and valuable intervention" when there are concerns of a risk to others. Nevertheless, in 2024, Gardner was able to land a job helping care for surgical patients at an Iowa hospital—two years after the abuse allegations against him were reported to SafeSport and the police. And it wasn't until late May that West Des Moines police executed a search warrant at his home, eventually leading to the recovery of a trove of photos and videos on his computer and cellphone of nude young girls, court records show. The AP has more on the allegations and why the police investigation was suspended for a time.