By coincidence, Olympic team training took place in Tarwater's hometown of Knoxville. At the Olympics, Tarwater swam the third leg of the preliminary round of the men's 4×200-meter relay. His time of 1:46.33 was a personal best, and the second-fastest leg for Team USA, which turned in the fastest preliminary swim, and third-fastest among all 64 swimmers. He attributed his performance to concentrating exclusively on the freestyle during the two months between Trials and the Games. Of his Olympic experience, Tarwater said, "Even at 28, with a lot of international experience, nothing matches the Olympics. My heart was pumping so intensely that I was just trying to calm myself down. Standing on the blocks, waiting to take the exchange, I was just saying, 'Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.' ... It's such a rush." Typically, the relay team for the finals is composed of the top two qualifiers plus the two fastest swimmers in the preliminaries. In 2012, however, the U.S. team had its top three swimmers in reserve, as Phelps would swim the relay final despite dropping the individual 200-meter freestyle from his program. In the finals, the U.S. relay team beat the second-place French team by three seconds, winning Tarwater a gold medal.