National gymnastics officials negligently allowed a local coach to abuse girls at a gym in West Des Moines, Iowa, two new lawsuits allege, and attorneys say more litigation is likely.
Sean Gardner, who worked from 2018 to 2022 at Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute, a renowned institution that has produced multiple Olympic champions, including Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas, has been accused of sexual misconduct with an unknown number of child gymnasts during his time in Iowa. He has not been criminally charged but currently is awaiting trial on federal charges related to inappropriately videotaping children at a gym he worked at in Purvis, Mississippi, before coming to Iowa.
Filing suits in Iowa are two former Chow's students. Finley Weldon, now a gymnast at Iowa State University, and Hailey Gear, now at the University of Iowa, are suing not just Gardner and Chow's, but USA Gymnastics, the national governing body of gymnastics, and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a congressionally authorized oversight group founded in response to previous gymnastics sex-abuse scandals.
The lawsuits, filed Monday, Dec. 1, in Polk County, were first reported by the Associated Press. The Des Moines Register generally does not identify victims of sexual assault unless they wish to come forward publicly. Attorneys for Weldon and Gear confirmed that is the case with their clients.
