Teijiro Tanikawa won the Japanese 200 metres freestyle swimming event at the high school level twice before matriculating to Nihon University to study economics. He continued his successful career at the collegiate level, which led to his selection to represent Japan in the 4x200 metres freestyle relay at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. There, alongside Hiroshi Suzuki, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, and Toru Goto, he won the silver medal. Two years later, he and Suzuki took gold in that event at the 1954 Asian Games with Yukiyoshi Aoki and the non-Olympian Kenzo Yoshimura, while Tanikawa also captured silver individually in the 100 metres freestyle. By career, he worked at Fuji Steel.
Japan