IOWA CITY, Iowa — Long before his banishment from gymnastics and arrest after accusations that he abused girls he coached, warning signs about Sean Gardner were coming from several directions — his former boss, his gymnasts and their parents.
The former boss in Mississippi says she brought her concerns about Gardner’s “grooming” behavior to USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body. The parents and girls in Iowa described telling coaches of inappropriate behavior at Gardner’s new job at an academy there that produced Olympians and is owned by renowned coach Liang “Chow” Qiao.
Yet Qiao not only kept Gardner on the job — he promoted him.
Associated Press interviews with four parents whose daughters trained under Gardner and a letter obtained by the AP from Gardner’s former employer to clients at her gym revealed that concerns about the coach were reported to gymnastics authorities as far back as 2018 — four years before he was kicked out of the sport.
One girl told Qiao during a meeting in 2020 that she had been touched inappropriately by Gardner during training, but Qiao said any such contact was inadvertent and intended to save athletes from injury, a parent told AP.
“She felt totally invalidated,” the parent said of the response from Qiao, who built his reputation coaching Olympic gold medalists Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas and China’s women’s national team.
The watchdog responsible for investigating wrongdoing in Olympic sports confirmed to AP that Qiao and several other coaches were privately sanctioned for failing to report sexual misconduct allegations against Gardner after learning about them.
Qiao did not return AP emails and phone messages seeking comment. Gardner, 38, has been jailed since his Aug. 14 arrest pending federal court proceedings in Mississippi. He hasn’t entered a plea, and court records don’t indicate if he has a lawyer. He did not return AP messages seeking comment before his arrest.
Concerns at Chow’s Gymnastics were first raised in 2019
Chow’s Gymnastics & Dance Institute is seen Aug. 4, 2025, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Credit: AP Photo/Scott McFetridgeGym’s claim of prompt response infuriated parents
The gym’s statement infuriated some parents and former Chow’s pupils who said concerns about Gardner had been widely known. Several of Gardner’s students left the gym beginning in 2019 in what parents called a mass exodus.
The parents of one gymnast recalled witnessing Gardner touch another girl’s buttocks while standing behind her during practice. Gardner told the parents that his hand slipped by accident, and the father recalled warning Gardner that there “would be no accidents with my daughter.”
When that girl eventually quit the gym due in part to Gardner’s conduct, the father recalled restraining himself when Gardner came out to the parking lot to say he was sorry.
Bonanni, the attorney for survivors of Nassar’s abuse, said she is troubled by the slow response in the Gardner case and expects more victims to come forward.
“The damage caused by this kind of abuse is permanent, and it’s really long-lasting,” she said. “It changes the trajectory of a young person’s life.”
The Associated Press’ Ryan J. Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa, and Eddie Pells reported from Denver.
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