IOWA CITY, Iowa — Long before his banishment from gymnastics and arrest after accusations that he abused girls he coached, warning signs about Sean Gardner were coming from several directions — his former boss, his gymnasts and their parents.

The former boss in Mississippi says she brought her concerns about Gardner’s “grooming” behavior to USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body. The parents and girls in Iowa described telling coaches of inappropriate behavior at Gardner’s new job at an academy there that produced Olympians and is owned by renowned coach Liang “Chow” Qiao.

Yet Qiao not only kept Gardner on the job — he promoted him.

Associated Press interviews with four parents whose daughters trained under Gardner and a letter obtained by the AP from Gardner’s former emplo

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