Coach's gym proprietor reveals allegations of grooming, claimed to have been shared years prior to the coach's arrest on sex abuse charges.
In a shocking turn of events, the watchdog responsible for investigating wrongdoing in Olympic sports has confirmed that Liang "Chow" Qiao, a renowned coach, and several other coaches were privately sanctioned. The focus of the investigation centres around Sean Gardner, a coach who was banned from gymnastics following accusations of abusing girls he coached.
Gardner, who was also the director of the Chow's Winter Classic, a meet that attracts hundreds of gymnasts to Iowa every year, was first banned by the U.S. Center for SafeSport after receiving a sexual abuse complaint in July 2022. This temporary ban was followed by a more stringent suspension from coaching and all contact with athletes in July 2022, after Chow's Gymnastics enforced measures and subsequently fired Gardner.
The troubling behaviour of Gardner was first reported to Mark Busby, then the lawyer of USA Gymnastics, as far back as 2018. The person who made this report was Workman, the Mississippi gym owner and Gardner’s former boss. Despite these concerns, Gardner was hired at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in 2018, passing a standard USA Gymnastics background check.
Concerns about Gardner's behaviour in the gym at Chow's began soon after his hiring, with girls in one training group pushing for intervention. One girl told Qiao during a meeting in 2020 that she had been touched inappropriately by Gardner during training. However, Qiao's response to the girl's allegation was described as invalidating.
The parents of one gymnast recalled witnessing Gardner touch another girl's buttocks during practice and expressed concern about Gardner's conduct, leading to the girl quitting the gym. Gardner's grooming behaviour was also reported to USA Gymnastics, but it appears that the necessary actions were not taken promptly.
Attorney for survivors of Nassar's abuse, Bonanni, is troubled by the slow response in the Gardner case and expects more victims to come forward. The case serves as a stark reminder of the importance of prompt and effective action in addressing allegations of abuse in sports.
Gardner was jailed since his Aug. 14 arrest pending federal court proceedings in Mississippi. The details of these proceedings remain unknown at this time. The investigation into Gardner's actions and the response of those responsible for his supervision continues.
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