IOWA CITY, Iowa — The U.S. gymnastics world was only just recovering from a devastating sexual abuse scandal when a promising young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions.

Liang "Chow" Qiao, the owner of Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, thought highly enough of his new hire, Sean Gardner, to put him in charge of the club's premier junior event and to coach some of its most promising girls.

But four years later, Gardner was gone from Chow's with little notice.

The Chow's Gymnastics & Dance Institute is seen Aug. 4, in West Des Moines, Iowa. Scott McFetridge, Associated Press

USA Gymnastics, the organization rocked by the Larry Nassar sex-abuse crisis that led to the creation of the U.

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