At the 2012 Olympic Games, he competed on all six apparatuses during qualification, where he qualified in twenty-second place to the individual all-around final with a total score of 86.841, was named as the third reserve for the rings final with a score of 15.100, and qualified second to the parallel bars final with a score of 15.725, .141 behind his brother Yusuke. During the team final 2012 Olympics, he contributed scores of 13.733 on floor, 13.433 on pommel horse, 15.366 on parallel bars, and 15.166 on high bar towards the Japanese team's second-place finish. In the individual all-around, Tanaka was in the silver medal position going into the final rotation, when a mistake on the pommel horse dropped him to sixth. His overall score was 89.407, a major improvement from his performance in qualification, and just over a point away from medalling. In the parallel bars final, he once again just missed out on a medal, placing fourth with a score of 15.500.