Kanati Allen

James Kanati Allen (January 25, 1947 – December 31, 2011)^[1] was an American gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and competed for the seventh-place U.S. team at the 1968 Summer Olympics.^[2] Allen, who was of black and Native American descent, was the first African-American gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games.^[3]

Kanati Allen
Portrait of Allen
Personal information
Full name	James Kanati Allen
Born	(1947-01-25)January 25, 1947 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	December 31, 2011(2011-12-31) (aged 64) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Gymnastics career
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Country represented	United States
College team	UCLA Bruins (1964–1968)
Club	Los Angeles High School
Head coach(es)	Art Shurlock
Retired	c. 1972
Medal record Men's artistic gymnastics Representing  United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Universiade 0 1 0 Total 0 1 0 Universiade 1967 Tokyo Team

Allen attended Los Angeles High School before attending University of California, Los Angeles where he competed as a member of the UCLA Bruins men's gymnastics team from 1964 to 1968.^[4][5]

His last major competition was the 1972 United States Olympic trials where he was not selected for the 1972 Summer Olympics.^[6]