DENVER — Young gymnasts and their parents started raising red flags about a coach as early as 2017 — the same year a watchdog agency was created in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal that nearly derailed USA Gymnastics and damaged the country’s entire Olympic movement.
But it took until 2022 for Shawn Gardner to face any sanction from the US Center for SafeSport, the independent agency created by Congress to investigate misconduct in the Olympic Games. And details did not emerge until an Associated Press investigation this year about Koch, whose arrest in August on child pornography charges was a turning point in a case that involved a man dubbed “Nassar 2.0.”
Now, a new AP investigation finds that months before Gardner’s arrest for planting cameras in the bathroom of a girls’ gym in Purvis, Mississippi, he was willing to accept a lifetime ban from gymnastics coaching as part of a deal where he would admit to abuse, according to SafeSport and three people who handled the case.
The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by SafeSport, told the AP that a tangle of internal politics, including allegations of retaliation against employees inside SafeSport, prevented it from giving the harshest sanction.
With multiple people coming forward with allegations, new witnesses coming forward, and Gardner’s history at three gyms in different states, the case became one of the 8-year-old agency’s most troubling investigations.
“It was like, ‘Okay, this is ‘Nassar 2.0,’ so let’s figure out what we can find out and put an end to it,” one person said.
The person said no clear reason was ever given as to why the Center did not finalize the permanent ban.
Gardner, meanwhile, has pleaded not guilty to federal child pornography charges and will remain in jail until a hearing on March 2.
Experts point out key difference between temporary and lifetime bans
SafeSport’s inability to prevent a permanent ban is seen by critics as a fundamental failure that undermines one of its core missions: securing permanent bans against the most dangerous abusers.
Asked why SafeSport did not comply, center spokeswoman Hillary Nemchik said in a statement that she could not comment on those details.
But, he said, SafeSport “took prompt action to protect athletes from harm when they first received allegations of sexual misconduct. The sanctions imposed during a temporary suspension and a permanent ban are the same.”
Regarding SafeSport’s handling of cases in general, the statement said, “Even if a defendant agrees to a significant sanction, Center staff are still required to ensure that the defendant receives a fair process.”
While not specifically addressing the Gardner case, Nemchik said the center is careful not to close cases “with inaccuracies or draw a conclusion that the defendant was not properly prosecuted, as this could jeopardize the case and require the case to be reopened.”
Gardner’s temporary suspension in July 2022 was put on SafeSport’s disciplinary database – a searchable list of people banned by the centre, which updates the list but does not announce new or notable sanctions. The database requires users to know the name of the person they want to check.
People familiar with the matter told the AP that the permanent ban Gardner indicated he was willing to sign as early as 2025 would change his status on the database and close the investigation.
Experts familiar with SafeSport told the AP that this would limit their ability to do more damage in several ways. These include:
• Eliminating the possibility of the case going to arbitration and eliminating the need to re-interview and potentially traumatize athletes.
• If Gardner is acquitted in his criminal case the risk of any sanctions being lifted would be eliminated.
Just as importantly, it would have sent a clear message to parents, sports figures and potential employers, said Michelle Simpson Tuegel, a lawyer representing the gymnasts in the Nassar case.
“It communicates something that there is a final decision,” he said. “It means something. It’s not like it’s something that’s being adjudicated upon and this guy may have been falsely accused.”
Attorney Steve Silvey, a longtime critic of the center, said Gardner admitting to possible illegal activity at the SafeSport Center in early 2025 would have provided law enforcement with more information in the case had it not resulted in his arrest until August.
“Did he abuse anyone in the months that SafeSport was sitting on that information?” Sylve said. “And where did that fit into what the FBI knew before they arrested him”?
Despite a temporary suspension from gymnastics coaching for two years, Gardner was able to get a job at MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center in May 2024 as a surgical technologist, responsible for positioning patients on the operating room table and assisting with procedures and post-surgery care. A hospital spokesperson did not respond to AP’s voicemail and email seeking comment.
Gardner’s attorney, Omodare Jupiter, also did not respond to an email and phone message from the AP asking questions about SafeSport’s handling of his client’s case.
Trap of employees afraid of office politics and retaliation
People familiar with Gardner’s case told the AP that it became mired in internal SafeSport politics, leading to HR complaints alleging retaliation and other concerns — and ultimately no lifetime ban.
He described a dysfunctional culture in which employees were afraid to talk to their bosses about the problems they encountered, including frustration over the Center’s failure to close the Gardner case.
He said SafeSport had conducted a survey of employees earlier this year and the results were troubling. A slideshow presentation to staff shared with the AP quoted: “Significant concerns about retaliation, alleged favoritism and undeserved promotions” within the center’s investigative and legal departments.
One employee’s quote read, “If I say something, I can be punished without reason.”
Nemchik did not respond to a question from the AP about what SafeSport did in response to the survey, which came shortly after the ouster of CEO Juris Colon in April, but acknowledged “short-term cultural challenges” that came after Colon’s departure.
Nemchik said in a statement that the center hopes the new CEO will “focus on organizational excellence as the center evolves under new leadership to best fulfill our mission.”
Some allegations remained under the radar for years
Since his arrest, Gardner’s sanction on SafeSport’s disciplinary database has been upgraded from “temporary suspension” to “ineligible” due to “criminal disposition involving a minor” and “sexual misconduct”.
A conviction would make Gardner permanently ineligible to coach gymnastics. Gardner had agreed to the same position in early 2025, according to notes from an April case file, one person told the AP.
“People know what Larry Nassar did and how it happened, and you let it happen again?” John Manley, the lawyer for the gymnasts in the Nassar and Gardner cases, said when asked to compare the two. “One of the jobs of this center is to protect child athletes from predators. And they are failing.”
Meanwhile, SafeSport, USA Gymnastics and coaches at the Iowa gym where Gardner worked have been named as defendants in lawsuits filed by two gymnasts who say they did not take adequate steps to protect them.
The lawsuits say that in December 2017, USA Gymnastics and SafeSport were notified by the parents of a girl about Gardner’s inappropriate behavior while coaching her at Jump’In Gymnastics in Purvis, Mississippi.
Among the lawsuit’s allegations:
• “Gardner requires younger gymnasts to hug each other after every practice, including long, forward-facing, two-handed hugs.”
• “Gardner disciplined and intimidated an underage gymnast by taking her to his office for a 25-minute closed-door meeting without parental consent, verbally abused her, and then hugged and kissed her without consent.”
Both SafeSport and USA Gymnastics declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The criminal complaint that led to Gardner’s arrest states that the FBI found video files on her computer that Gardner had made with a hidden camera in a girls’ restroom when young gymnasts undressed and went to the bathroom at a Mississippi gym. The videos date from at least December 2017 to mid-2018.
The SafeSport Center said USA Gymnastics informed it in January 2018 that one of its affiliated gyms had resolved a report involving Gardner. But, the Center said, it did not investigate further because the report did not relate to sexual misconduct and it did not receive detailed information.
Meanwhile, Gardner was able to get a job in 2018 at the Chow Gymnastics & Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa — a gym owned by renowned coach Liang “Chow” Qiao who has produced Olympians including gold medalist Shawn Johnson.
Not until 2022, when new allegations of misconduct were made at SafeSport, did the Iowa gym fire Gardner and the center put him on temporary suspension. Jim and Qiao — both named in the lawsuit — did not return phone and email messages left by the AP.
It took an investigation by the AP and three years to uncover the depth of the allegations against Gardner and the shortcomings of the watchdog agency created to protect athletes in the wake of the Nassar case.
Simpson Tuegel said it’s not surprising the case is being compared to Nassar.
“You look at the timeline and how many people knew and failed to protect the children and allowed this individual to have contact,” he said.
“And there really is a point that you see, in some of these cases, where it absolutely could have been prevented and it didn’t.”
