Tanskanen began gymnastics when he was six years old and became a member of the Finnish junior national team five years later. He began competing at the senior level in 1991. He competed at the
1994 World Championships but did not advance into any finals. At the
1997 World Championships, he won the gold medal on the horizontal bar with a score of 9.700, marking Finland's first gold medal at the World Championships since 1950. Then at the
1998 Goodwill Games, he finished eighth in the horizontal bar final. Tanskanen finished 19th in the all-around at the
2000 European Championships. He qualified for the horizontal bar final at the
2001 World Championships but withdrew, citing an injury. He later claimed that he was not actually injured, but he withdrew because he felt the score he received in the qualifications was undeserved, and he wanted to give teammate
Jari Monkkonen the chance to compete in a final. Tanskanen retired from gymnastics in 2008 after failing to qualify for the
2008 Summer Olympics. == Post-gymnastics ==