An­tho­ny De Gannes and Jameel Ali were sched­uled to head out to Jakar­ta, In­done­sia, yes­ter­day to rep­re­sent T&T at the 53rd World Artis­tic Gym­nas­tics Cham­pi­onships set from Oc­to­ber 19-25.

The com­pe­ti­tion will fea­ture the world’s top men’s and women’s gym­nasts from some 70 na­tions, in­clud­ing Olympic and World medal­lists from pow­er­house teams in­clud­ing the Unit­ed States, Chi­na, Japan, Brazil, and Great Britain.

De Gannes, at age 18, is al­ready mak­ing waves in the world of gym­nas­tics. He is one of the youngest male gym­nas­tics ath­letes in the se­nior cat­e­go­ry to ever com­pete at a World Gym­nas­tics Cham­pi­onship.

Born in Trinidad & To­ba­go, De Gannes and his fam­i­ly mi­grat­ed to Cana­da when he was just two years old. He be­gan his gym­nas­tics train­ing when he was six years old and has not stopped train­ing since then.

Rep­re­sent­ing Al­ber­ta at the Cana­di­an Cham­pi­onships on a num­ber of oc­ca­sions, De Gannes has al­ready earned mul­ti­ple provin­cial ti­tles, show­cas­ing his re­mark­able tal­ent, dis­ci­pline, and de­ter­mi­na­tion. His per­for­mances are marked by a unique blend of strength, artistry, and pre­ci­sion - qual­i­ties that set him apart in a de­mand­ing sport. So much so, that De Gannes is one of the few male gym­nasts at this lev­el in Cana­da that still com­petes con­vinc­ing­ly as an all-rounder, com­pet­ing on all six ap­pa­ra­tus–floor ex­er­cise, pom­mel horse, rings, vault, par­al­lel bars and hor­i­zon­tal bar.

De Gannes, who is flu­ent in both Eng­lish and French, has al­ways had a pas­sion to rep­re­sent his coun­try of birth, Trinidad & To­ba­go, on the world stage, and for the first time, he gets his wish by rep­re­sent­ing Trinidad & To­ba­go at the Cham­pi­onships in Jakar­ta at the Se­nior Lev­el.

His dream is to one day launch his own Gym­nas­tics Acad­e­my in T&T and the Caribbean.

Look­ing ahead, his goal is clear and am­bi­tious - to proud­ly rep­re­sent Trinidad & To­ba­go at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los An­ge­les.

De Gannes' na­tion­al team­mate, Ali, who was born in Cana­da to Trinida­di­an par­ents from Mara­bel­la, has rep­re­sent­ed T&T pre­vi­ous­ly, at the 2023 Pan Amer­i­can Cham­pi­onships in Medellin, Colom­bia, and the Pan Amer­i­can Games in San­ti­a­go, Chile.

He most re­cent­ly com­pet­ed at the 2025 Pan Amer­i­can Artis­tic Gym­nas­tics Cham­pi­onships in Pana­ma City, Pana­ma, in June.

Ali is al­so seek­ing to rep­re­sent T&T at LA 2028. Their jour­neys con­tin­ue in In­done­sia in the week-long com­pe­ti­tion.