A former youth gymnastics coach has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for secretly recording young female students undressing and using the bathroom at a gym in Mississippi, in a case that has raised fresh questions about athlete protection in the sport.
US District Judge Kristi Johnson handed Sean Gardner, 39, the maximum possible sentence on Wednesday, ordering him to serve 30 years for each of three federal charges involving the production of child sexual abuse material to which he pleaded guilty.
Gardner admitted 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 said the videos contained close-up images of at least 10 minors who were naked or undressing. The recordings were recovered from Gardner’s computers years later during an investigation into allegations that he had sexually abused gymnasts in Iowa.
Gardner was arrested by the FBI last summer, renewing scrutiny of whether US gymnastics authorities had done enough to protect athletes from sexual abuse by influential coaches.
Several former students at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, have accused Gardner of using his position to prey on them. The allegations have been made to police and in civil lawsuits, but Gardner has not been charged in connection with the Iowa cases.
The institute was founded by prominent coach Liang “Chow” Qiao, who is known for producing Olympic champions. Gardner coached several promising young gymnasts and served as director of an annual winter meet that attracted hundreds of athletes to Iowa.
Lawyers representing some of the women have also alleged that USA Gymnastics and the US Center for SafeSport were informed of Gardner’s inappropriate behaviour in 2017 but failed to remove him from the sport for years.
SafeSport temporarily suspended Gardner in 2022 after a gymnast from Chow’s institute accused him of sexual abuse. Chow’s subsequently fired him.
SafeSport said its investigation found that Chow and other coaches had known about allegations of sexual misconduct against Gardner but failed to report them as required under its policies.
In May, a judge dismissed SafeSport as a defendant in two lawsuits alleging it had failed to properly investigate Gardner, ruling that the organisation was entitled to immunity under federal law.
Several lawsuits against Gardner, USA Gymnastics and Chow’s Gymnastics remain pending.
