Due to the British men's team failing to qualify for the Olympics at the World Championships in Tokyo, they were able to send a team to the Olympic Test event in London in January. Once again, Purvis gave a strong performance to help the team to qualify to the Olympics. Their qualifying score of 358.227 would have put them in 4th place going into team finals had they given the same performance in Tokyo. Purvis also got the highest all-around score at the event, with teammates Kristian Thomas and Daniel Keatings taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively. In the apparatus finals he tied with Tomás González for victory in the floor. In May, Purvis led the British team in qualifications for the European Championships in Montpelier, despite having been ill with food poisoning the previous night. After only 3 hours sleep he started the competition on vault and fell into a judge's lap. Echoing a performance given by US gymnast Paul Hamm at the 2004 Summer Olympics he rallied, and went on to qualify with the highest all-around score. The team went on to win Britain's first team Gold in the finals. Although Purvis made the floor finals, it was decided by the team coaches that he would not compete to give him a rest after having been ill earlier in the week. In June 2012, Purvis won the British Artistic Gymnastics Championships for the third consecutive time.
At the London Olympics, Purvis was part of the bronze medal-winning GB men's team, competing on 30 July 2012 at the North Greenwich Arena, and competed in the all-around competition with team mate Kristian Thomas.