Years after abuse reports, ex-coach at renowned US gymnastics academy is arrested by FBI

Source: AP

By RYAN J. FOLEY and EDDIE PELLS
Updated 4:23 PM CDT, August 19, 2025

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. 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.

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 U.S. Center for SafeSport, had been informed by the watchdog group that Gardner was placed on its website’s banned list and was suspended from all contact with gymnasts.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/usa-gymnastics-coach-sex-abuse-safesport-0fd04e5ea487310b0660325a29a2b1c3