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The big news of the week unfortunately concerns Sean Gardner. Gardner, a former elite coach who worked at a gym in Purvis, Miss. before moving to Chow’s Gymnastics in West Des Moines, Iowa, pled guilty to three charges of sexual exploitation of children on Monday.
Gardner allegedly set up cameras in the girls’ bathroom at the Purvis facility in 2017 and 2018. He then allegedly abused at least five gymnasts at Chow’s from 2018 until his firing in 2022.
Sadly, this is another case where an abusive coach was allowed to travel from gym to gym due to initial allegations not being taken seriously. A Purvis gym mom had alerted USA Gymnastics about Gardner’s behavior in 2018, a CBS News investigation found. Late last year, an AP investigation found that gymnasts and parents in Purvis sounded the alarm to USAG about Gardner’s conduct as early as 2017, but that the U.S. Center for SafeSport didn’t sanction him until 2022. The FBI arrested Gardner in 2025.
Finley Weldon, now a gymnast at Iowa State University, spoke to CBS News about her time training with Gardner at Chow’s. She has been the most public figure in this case thus far, and her fortitude is really incredible. You can watch her interview below. Liberty Raines, who trained at the Purvis facility beginning at age 11, has also recently come forward.
Neither Chow’s, USA Gymnastics, or Gardner’s lawyers are commenting on the case.
Needless to say, it’s incredibly disappointing that something like this could happen after the Larry Nassar scandal and the creation of SafeSport. But I can’t say I’m surprised. SafeSport has been plagued with problems from the start. Their processes are opaque as all hell, and when we do hear about the inner workings of the organization, it usually concerns the large backlog and lack of resources.
In light of all that has happened in this sport, and all the trauma caused, in part, by adults not working together to protect athletes, this development confirms this new system isn’t working.
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Elite competitions
The first event in the World Challenge Cup series concluded last week in Varna, Bulgaria (results). Mara Slippens of the Netherlands won vault with a 13.233 for her Yurchenko 1.5 and her half on, tucked half twist off.
Roni Shamay of Israel won the bars title with a 13.200. Her lovely routine featured a toe full to maloney to pak to maloney half. She dismounts with a front double tuck.
Great Britain’s Shantae-Eve Amankwaah had a strong performance here. She took the floor title with a 13.233 and bars silver with a 13.133. Her floor routine isn’t the most difficult, but it was so well done, and the title was well deserved:
Maria Drobniak of Poland won beam with a 12.866. Her leaps all looked iffy to me but she was otherwise so poised and precise:
- The U.S. national team camp is in progress, and the Pan American Championships team will be selected today at 5:30 p.m. ET. Charleigh Bullock, Addy Fulcher, Greta Krob, Zoey Molomo, Claire Pease, Lila Richardson, Hezly Rivera, Alessia Rosa and Simone Rose will vie for spots. The competition will stream live on FlipNow.
- The Oceania Championships happened (results). Australia won the team competition and therefore qualified a team to worlds. Emily Whitehead won the all-around with a 50.998. Georgia Godwin also had a strong showing here, winning gold on vault, bars and beam, including a 14.066 on bars, the highest score of the competition.
- The NHK Trophy 2026 is in progress. The second women’s session will be held today at 2pm Japan time. Athletes to watch include Nishiyama Misa, Kishi Rina, Sugihara Aiko, Miyata Shoko and Okamura Mana. Check out this preview from Olympics.com.
More elite updates
- Shilese Jones shared her comeback progress in an IG post. Jones tore her ACL in the leadup to the 2024 Olympics, and hasn’t competed since. She’s one of my favorites so I cannot wait to see her back in action.
- https://www.instagram.com/reels/DYQmHwApZlv/
- Jade Carey says her career will end with this bid for LA 2028.
- The Gadirova twins responded to news that their former gym burned down.
NCAA news
Georgia hired Laurent Landi as Associate Head Coach. Follow Greg Marsden on Bluesky for more coaching updates.
Joscelyn Roberson visited UCLA. Here is the transfer log courtesy of College Gym News, which is also tracking things here. There are still a ton of people on it; we’ll see how many of them land somewhere.
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