IOWA CITY, Iowa — Two gymnasts who say they were sexually abused at an elite academy in Iowa filed lawsuits Monday against the sport’s oversight bodies, alleging they failed to stop Sean Gardner from preying on girls despite repeated complaints about the coach’s behavior.
The lawsuits allege USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport were told about “inappropriate and abusive behaviors” in December 2017, including that Gardner was hugging and kissing girls and engaging in other grooming behaviors while coaching at a Mississippi gym.
The organizations failed to properly investigate, revoke Gardner’s coaching credentials, report him to law enforcement or take other actions to protect athletes, the lawsuits allege. They claim the inaction enabled Gardner to get a job at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, in 2018, where the gymnasts say they and other preteen and teenage girls were abused despite additional complaints about Gardner.
The institute was founded by prominent coach Liang “Chow” Qiao, who is known for producing Olympic champions and was also named as a defendant in the lawsuits.
Lawsuits are first filed since Gardner’s arrest
The lawsuits, filed in Polk County, Iowa, are the first civil cases brought in an abuse scandal that came to light in a series of reports by The Associated Press after the FBI arrested Gardner in August. They allege USA Gymnastics and SafeSport, the watchdog created by Congress to investigate misconduct in Olympic sports in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, missed repeated opportunities to stop Gardner.
The center said Monday it had not been served with the lawsuit and typically does not comment on litigation. It noted that its 2022 temporary suspension of Gardner came “upon receiving the first report of sexual misconduct” against him and was published on its online database of disciplinary action. That was “the only reason Gardner was barred from coaching young athletes in the years until his arrest,” it said.
Gardner’s sanction escalated from “temporary suspension” to “ineligible” on Sept. 12 due to his arrest.
Responding to questions in August about the original AP reporting, the center said it had been notified by USA Gymnastics that a gym where Gardner worked had resolved a 2018 case involving the coach that didn’t pertain to sexual misconduct. The center said coaches at Chow’s were aware of subsequent allegations involving sexual misconduct but failed to report them.
USA Gymnastics spokesperson Jill Geer said Monday the organization appreciates “the seriousness of this case” but declined further comment.
Gardner faces federal child pornography charges for allegedly placing a hidden camera in a bathroom at a gymnastics studio in Purvis, Mississippi, between December 2017 and April 2018 to record his students. Investigators say he created videos showing close-up images of at least 10 minors naked or undressing, which they recovered from his computers last year while investigating reports of sexual abuse.
Gardner has pleaded not guilty and has been jailed pending trial, which is scheduled for next month. His attorney didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.
Plaintiffs in lawsuits are now college students
The lawsuits allege the plaintiffs were 11- and 12-year-old trainees at Chow’s who dreamed of one day competing in the Olympics when they began training under Gardner in 2018. They say they were subjected to “physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, harassment and molestation” until they quit the gym years later.
The plaintiffs include Iowa State gymnast Finley Weldon, who reported claims of abuse by Gardner to police and later went public in an AP interview. The other is 19-year-old University of Iowa student Hailey Gear, who also wants to go public with her allegations, according to her attorney, Elizabeth Pudenz. They seek unspecified damages for their injuries and treatment expenses. Several other former gymnasts have reported abuse, and more lawsuits are expected.
The AP generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly.
In addition to USA Gymnastics and SafeSport, the defendants named in the lawsuit are Qiao, the former Chinese gymnast who opened Chow’s in 1998 and coached Olympic gold medalists Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas; Qiao’s wife, Liwen Zhuan, a coach who helps run the gym; and their family corporations that own the business and the property on which it sits.
Lawsuits detail concerns over Gardner’s ‘grooming behavior’
The lawsuits allege all the defendants were negligent in how they responded to reports of Gardner’s misconduct.
The parents of a gymnast filed reports with USA Gymnastics and SafeSport in December 2017 alleging Gardner required girls to give him long hugs after every training in Mississippi and that he kicked one girl out who refused, the lawsuits claim. He allegedly had an improper closed-door meeting with a girl whom he verbally abused, kissed gymnasts on their foreheads, drank alcohol excessively in front of them, made sexual jokes to girls and inappropriate comments on social media, and stalked one girl who he was instructed to stop contacting, the lawsuits claim.
Gardner’s then-boss also reported to USA Gymnastics in January 2018 that Gardner had engaged in “grooming behaviors,” but he was allowed to continue coaching.
The lawsuits allege SafeSport received another report from a parent at Chow’s “concerning improper behaviors” by Gardner in September 2020 but failed to investigate.
The lawsuits allege Qiao and Zhuan failed to conduct an adequate background check before hiring Gardner and continued to employ him even after receiving complaints that he inappropriately touched girls while spotting them during exercises.
Qiao and Zhuan didn’t immediately return a message left at Chow’s. The gym has said that Gardner passed a standard background check, and it fired Gardner after he was suspended by SafeSport in July 2022, even though “there had been no finding of misconduct at that time.”
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