Takeaways from AP’s reporting on concerns about gymnastics coach before arrest in sex abuse case

By Canadian Press on August 29, 2025.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Years before his banishment from gymnastics and arrest after allegations he abused girls he coached, warning signs about Sean Gardner were coming from several sources — yet authorities didn’t stop him from coaching.

A former boss said she brought concerns about Gardner’s “grooming” behavior to USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, months before he was hired to coach at a renowned Iowa academy.

Girls he coached and their parents say they reported inappropriate behavior in the following years at Gardner’s new employer, Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute, which is owned by renowned coach Liang “Chow” Qiao. Gardner not only kept his job, but was promoted.

An The Associated Press investigation found that gymnastics authorities were told about some of Gardner’s troubling behavior dating back to early 2018, and concerns mounted as he climbed the ranks of the sport.

The watchdog responsible for investigating wrongdoing in Olympic sports confirmed to AP that Qiao and several other coaches at Chow’s were sanctioned in 2022, the same year Gardner received his temporary ban from gymnastics, for failing to report sexual misconduct allegations 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.

The FBI says Gardner is suspected of victimizing children at Chow’s and two other gyms where he previously worked, including Jump ’In Gymnastics in Purvis, Mississippi. There, Gardner is accused of installing a hidden camera to record students undressed in the bathroom. Gardner, 38, has been jailed pending federal court proceedings in Mississippi.

Here are some takeaways from AP’s investigation.

A former boss says she reported grooming behavior

In her first comments on the case, Jump ’In Gymnastics Owner Candi Workman said in a recent letter to customers that she reported “troubling behavior” by Gardner to then-USA Gymnastics lawyer Mark Busby in January 2018.

Workman wrote that her concerns related to grooming behavior, which USA Gymnastics defines as a process where a person builds trust and emotional connections with a child for the purpose of sexually abusing them.

Workman did not elaborate on what she reported and hasn’t returned AP’s messages seeking comment. Busby, whose job at the time related to athlete safety and is now in private practice, declined to comment.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement that its policy then and now required the group to refer all reports of grooming behaviors to the U.S. Center for SafeSport for investigation.

The SafeSport center said it was notified in January 2018 that a USA Gymnastics-affiliated gym had resolved a report involving Gardner. But the center said it didn’t investigate further because the report was not related to sexual misconduct, adding that it did not receive detailed information.

Girls and parents raised concerns at the Iowa gym

After Gardner was hired at Chow’s in 2018, some of his students and their parents began raising concerns about his behavior, according to AP interviews with four parents who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their daughters. The AP generally does not identify sex abuse victims.

Some girls in one of his training groups told their parents that Gardner was making inappropriate comments and making them feel uncomfortable with the way he touched them during exercises, one parent recalled.

The parent recalled attending a meeting with parents of two other girls in 2019 to discuss those concerns about Gardner with gym owner Qiao, who is known for coaching Olympic gold medalists Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas.

In 2020, a girl met with Qiao and another coach to report inappropriate touching by Gardner, and Qiao told her that any such contact was inadvertent and intended to protect the athlete from injury, a parent told AP.

Parents of another girl recalled witnessing Gardner grabbing the buttocks of a young gymnast and confronting him about it.

Several of Gardner’s students quit the gym during this period.

Despite concerns, Gardner was able to get hired and promoted

Gardner passed a standard USA Gymnastics background check when he was hired at Chow’s in September 2018, the gym says.

Chow’s Gymnastics promoted Gardner in January 2020 to be head coach of a girls’ team, telling parents in an email: “He has demonstrated the leadership and put good effort to do his job well.”

Gardner also was director of the Chow’s Winter Classic, a meet that draws hundreds of gymnasts to Iowa every year.

Chow’s Gymnastics kept Gardner on the payroll after he was arrested in August 2021 for second-offense drunken driving, a crash in which he ran another car off the road and his blood alcohol content recorded more than three times the legal limit for driving. It’s unclear whether the gym learned of the arrest. Gardner was sentenced to a week in jail and two years of probation.

Coaches were admonished for failure to report

A Chow’s gymnast came forward in spring 2022 alleging sexual abuse by Gardner to the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Within months, the group banned Gardner from coaching, and he was fired. In a rare public comment on a specific case, the center said its action “is the only reason Gardner was barred from coaching young athletes” until his arrest years later.

The center said it learned during its investigation that Chow and other coaches had been aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against Gardner but failed to report them to the center as required by its policy. The center said the sanctions included warnings, required education, probation and one suspension.

The center said that it was releasing the information “to correct the record in light of the recent public letter issued by Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute.”

In that letter, the gym said it acted “promptly, responsibly and in full compliance” with USA Gymnastics and SafeSport directives after it was informed Gardner was facing disciplinary action in 2022.

Ryan J. Foley And Eddie Pells, The Associated Press

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