Kanati Allen

Kanati Allen died on December 31, 2011.

Kanati Allen was 64 years old at the time of death.

James Kanati Allen (January 25, 1947 – December 31, 2011) 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. Allen, who is black and Cherokee, was the first African-American gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games.

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.

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

He received a PhD in physics from the University of Washington.