US News: Two former elite gymnasts filed federal lawsuits this week in Iowa accusing USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport of ignoring repeated warnings about a predatory coach, allowing years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse to continue unchecked.
The civil complaints, submitted Monday in Polk County District Court, name USA Gymnastics, SafeSport, Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, and the gym’s owners, Olympic coach Liang Chow and Liwen Zhuang, as defendants. One of the plaintiffs is Iowa State University gymnast Finley Weldon, who competed at the elite level as a minor.
Court documents allege that as early as December 2017, USA Gymnastics and SafeSport received detailed reports of inappropriate conduct by coach Sean Gardner while he worked at a Mississippi gym. Witnesses described Gardner hugging and kissing young female athletes, behavior widely recognized as grooming. Despite those alerts, neither organization permanently barred Gardner from coaching or notified law enforcement, the lawsuits claim.
Gardner was hired by Chow’s Gymnastics in 2018. The plaintiffs say the abuse began almost immediately and continued for several years until they left the program. They were 11 and 12 years old when the alleged misconduct started.
“These organizations had clear notice of the risk this coach posed to children, yet they did nothing meaningful to stop him,” said attorney Margaret Mabie of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, who represents both gymnasts. “This case shows that the systemic failures exposed by Larry Nassar have not been fully fixed.”
USA Gymnastics responded with a statement saying it “takes all allegations of abuse seriously” and is cooperating with authorities. The U.S. Center for SafeSport said it does not comment on pending litigation but remains committed to athlete safety.
Chow’s Gymnastics, a powerhouse program that produced Olympic champions Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas under head coach Liang Chow, has not yet issued a public response.
The lawsuits seek unspecified damages and demand policy changes to prevent similar oversights in the future. Legal experts say the outcome could influence how misconduct reports are handled across all Olympic sports.
SafeSport was created by Congress in 2017 in direct response to the Nassar scandal, in which the former national team doctor sexually abused hundreds of gymnasts over decades while complaints were ignored. USA Gymnastics has already paid more than $500 million to Nassar survivors.
Advocates for athlete protection praised the new filings. “These brave young women are forcing the sport to confront whether the reforms put in place after Nassar are actually working,” said Sarah Klein, a Nassar survivor and attorney with the Army of Survivors advocacy group.
The cases add fresh urgency to ongoing debates about oversight in Olympic pipeline programs as the United States prepares to host the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
