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Cycling at the 2004 Athina Summer Games:

Men's Mountainbike, Cross-Country

Cycling at the 2004 Summer Games: Previous Summer Games ▪ Next Summer Games

Events:
Phases:

Host City: Athina, Greece
Venue(s): Parnitha Olympic Mountain Bike Venue, Akharnes
Date Started: August 28, 2004
Date Finished: August 28, 2004
Format: 43.3 km. (26.9 miles).

Gold: FRA Julien Absalon
Silver: ESP José Antonio Hermida
Bronze: NED Bart Brentjens

Summary

France’s Julien Absalon had won the World Championships earlier in 2004 and had won numerous World Cup races in the past year. He raced at the front of the Olympic race for the first half, and then pulled away to win by exactly one minute over Spain’s surprise silver medalist, José Antonio Hermida. The bronze medalist, Bart Brentjens (NED), had won the first Olympic gold medal in this event in 1996. Absalon would soon establish himself as the top mountain biker in the world. He would win four consecutive World Championships (2004-07) and defended his gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. The defending World Champion and 2000 silver medallist was Belgium’s Filip Meirhaeghe. But in July 2004, he was caught using EPO, and suspended for two years. He admitted to doping, stating that he wanted to become an Olympic champion badly. He made a comeback in 2006, and was able to compete at the 2008 Olympics.

Final Standings

Rank Athlete Age Team NOC Medal T
1 Julien Absalon 23 France FRA Gold 2-15:02
2 José Antonio Hermida 25 Spain ESP Silver 2-16:02
3 Bart Brentjens 35 Netherlands NED Bronze 2-17:05
4 Roel Paulissen 28 Belgium BEL 2-18:10
5 Liam Killeen 22 Great Britain GBR 2-18:32
6 Ralph Näf 24 Switzerland SUI 2-19:15
7 Thomas Frischknecht 34 Switzerland SUI 2-19:39
8 Manuel Fumic 22 Germany GER 2-20:29
9 Seamus McGrath 28 Canada CAN 2-20:33
10 Marco Bui 26 Italy ITA 2-20:45
11 Jean-Christophe Péraud 27 France FRA 2-20:59
12 Fredrik Kessiakoff 24 Sweden SWE 2-21:23
13 Bas Peters 28 Netherlands NED 2-21:44
14 Marek Galiński 30 Poland POL 2-22:14
15 Christoph Soukup 23 Austria AUT 2-22:50
16 Iván Álvarez 22 Spain ESP 2-23:08
17 Oli Beckingsale 28 Great Britain GBR 2-23:15
18 Peter Riis Andersen 24 Denmark DEN 2-24:03
19 Todd Wells 28 United States USA 2-24:37
20 Carsten Bresser 33 Germany GER 2-25:09
21 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski 26 United States USA 2-25:28
22 Radim Kořínek 30 Czech Republic CZE 2-25:28
23 Sid Taberlay 24 Australia AUS 2-26:16
24 Marcin Karczyński 26 Poland POL 2-26:41
25 Thijs Al 24 Netherlands NED 2-27:13
26 José Adrián Bonilla 26 Costa Rica CRC 2-27:13
27 Yury Trofimov 20 Russia RUS 2-27:46
28 Kashi Leuchs 26 New Zealand NZL 2-28:20
29 Mannie Heymans 33 Namibia NAM 2-28:28
30 Robin Seymour 33 Ireland IRL 2-28:32
31 Joshua Fleming 28 Australia AUS 2-29:54
32 Michael Weiss 23 Austria AUT 2-30:14
33 Edvandro Cruz 26 Brazil BRA 2-30:35
34 Ľuboš Kondis 28 Slovakia SVK 2-31:15
35 Yader Zoli 28 Italy ITA 2-31:39
36 Serhiy Rysenko 24 Ukraine UKR 2-33:10
37 Ovidiu Oprea 27 Romania ROU at 1 lap
38 Kenji Takeya 34 Japan JPN at 1 lap
39 Christian Poulsen 24 Denmark DEN at 1 lap
40 Cristóbal Silva 24 Chile CHI at 1 lap
41 Sigvard Kukk 31 Estonia EST at 2 laps
42 Zhu Yongbiao 28 China CHN at 2 laps
43 Zsolt Vinczeffy 29 Hungary HUN at 2 laps
44 Carlos Gennero 25 Argentina ARG at 3 laps
45 Manolis Kotoulas 26 Greece GRE at 3 laps
AC Miguel Martinez 28 France FRA DNF (lap 6)
AC Jaroslav Kulhavý 19 Czech Republic CZE DNF (lap 5)
AC Lado Fumic 28 Germany GER DNF (lap 4)
AC Christoph Sauser 28 Switzerland SUI DNF (lap 3)
AC Ryder Hesjedal 23 Canada CAN DNF (lap 1)