Olympics watchdog failed to close case against gymnastics coach - ESPN

DENVER — Young gymnasts and their parents started raising red flags about a coach as far back as 2017 — the same year a watchdog agency was created in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case that nearly eviscerated USA Gymnastics and damaged the country's entire Olympic movement.

But it took until 2022 for Sean Gardner to face any sanction from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the independent agency created by Congress to investigate misconduct in Olympic sports. And it wasn't until an Associated Press investigation this year that details emerged about the coach, whose arrest on child pornography charges in August was a turning point in a case one person involved called «Nassar 2.0.»

Now, a new AP investigation has found that months before Gardner's arrest on allegations of installing cameras in a girls' gym bathroom in Purvis, Mississippi, he was willing to accept a lifetime ban from coaching gymnastics as part of a deal where he would admit to the abuse, according to three people involved with SafeSport and its handling of the case.

A tangle of internal politics that included allegations of retaliation against employees inside SafeSport kept it from levying its harshest sanction, the people — who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by SafeSport — told the AP.

With multiple alleged victims, new witnesses coming forward and Gardner's history at three gyms in different states, the case became one of the most troubling of the 8-year-old agency's investigations.

«It was like, 'Well, this is 'Nassar 2.0,' so let's figure out what we can figure out and wrap it up,» one person said.

That person said there was never a clear reason given for why the center did not finalize the permanent ban.

Meanwhile,