Lawyer criticizes USA Gymnastics amid lawsuit for alleged failure to protect athletes from sexual abuse
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USA Gymnastics faces another lawsuit for allegedly failing to protect female athletes from sexual abuse. The latest lawsuit alleges that USA Gymnastics and the US Center for SafeSport were informed about a coach, Sean Gardner, engaging in “inappropriate and abusive behaviors,” but failed to properly investigate.
The attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case, John Manly, who previously represented stars such as Simone Biles in Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse lawsuit against USA Gymnastics, called the organization’s negligence “despicable,” in a statement to News Digital.
“USA Gymnastics knew in 2017 that Gardner was a serious and present danger to children. USAG stood by and allowed a predator to prey on children in Iowa without notifying parents. His conduct is shocking and despicable,” Manly said.
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Chow Dance and Gymnastics Academy and former coach Sean Gardner (AP Photo/Scott McFetridge, Polk County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
A USA Gymnastics spokesperson told News Digital in response: “As litigation is ongoing, we are unable to offer comment.”
The lawsuits allege that all of the defendants were negligent in how they responded to reports of Gardner’s misconduct, which included hugging and kissing girls and engaging in other grooming behavior while training at a Mississippi gym.
The parents of a gymnast filed reports with USA Gymnastics and SafeSport in December 2017 alleging that Gardner required girls to give her long hugs after each workout in Mississippi and that she expelled a girl who refused, the lawsuits state.
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Gardner allegedly had an inappropriate closed-door meeting with a girl whom he verbally abused, kissed gymnasts on the forehead, drank excessive alcohol in front of them, made sexual jokes to girls and made inappropriate comments on social media, and harassed a girl whom he was ordered to stop contacting, the lawsuits state.
The FBI arrested Gardner in August on a federal child pornography charge.
The arrest came more than three years after he was suspended as a coach at Chow Institute of Dance and Gymnastics in West Des Moines, Iowa, for alleged sexual abuse.
Chow’s is the gym where American gymnastics stars Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas trained before becoming gold medalists at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
In April 2024, another of Chow’s former athletes appeared at the West Des Moines Police Department to report allegations of abuse, according to a now-sealed affidavit signed by police Detective Jeff Lyon.
A girl reported to SafeSport in March 2022 that Gardner used “inappropriate detection techniques” in which he placed his hands between her legs, according to the affidavit.
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The American flag provides a backdrop during practice time at the USA Gymnastics Championships on June 28, 2017 at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, WI. (Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Among the evidence seized by investigators in late May was a cellphone, a laptop and a desktop computer along with handwritten notes between Gardner and his former students, according to sealed court documents.
They found images of girls, approximately 6 to 14 years old, who were naked, using the bathroom or putting on leotards, those documents show. Those images appear to come from a camera hidden in a bathroom.
The News contributed to this report.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to Title IX enforcement and in mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The News and ESPN.com.