Untouchable Absalon defends Olympic crown
BEIJING (AP) If anyone was doubting Julien Absalon after he lost the mountain biking world championship title he had taken for four straight years, his display on Saturday should allay their fears.
The Frenchman dominated the men's Olympic event, pulling ahead of his rivals and then never allowing the gap to diminish.
"He was above my level," conceded Jean-Christophe Peraud, Absalon's teammate who took the silver medal. "You have to be having a really great day to get close to him."
Cycling
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AP Interactives
OLYMPICS_DOLY_CYC Headlines
- Untouchable Absalon defends Olympic crown
- No medals for US Beijing Olympic mountain bikers
- Absalon defends his gold in men's mountain biking
- Spitz easily wins Olympic mountain bike gold medal
- Reade fails, but British coach still pushing BMX
- Americans win 3 medals in Olympic BMX finals
- Strombergs wins men's Olympic BMX gold medal
- Bennett races in semifinals with injured shoulder
- Bennett gets extra day to heal, Olympic races off
- Rain pushes women's mountain bike race to Saturday
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NBC Encore: Men's mountain bike
France finishes 1-2 in men's mountain bike
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Mountain biking remix
Men's and women's cross country finals
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Medal ceremony: Women's mountain bike
Germany's Sabine Spitz followed up her Athens bronze with a gold medal in Beijing. Poland's Maja Wloszczowska received the silver, and Russia's Irina Kalentieva took bronze.
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Mountain bike crashes - women
A montage of crashes in women's mountain bike.
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Rewind: Men's mountain bike
Watch as France's Julien Absalon repeats his gold medal winning performance from Athens.
| Medal Count | ||||
| Cycling | ||||
| G | S | B | Total | |
| AFG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ALG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ASA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ANG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ANT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ARG | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ARM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ARU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Full Medals Table | ||||
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