Julien Absalon (born 16 August 1980 in Remiremont, Vosges) is a French cross-country mountain biker. He won consecutive gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics and at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At the 2012 Summer Olympics cross-country race, he suffered a tyre puncture in the opening lap. After changing tyre and noticing that he was trailing the leader by 55 seconds, he decided to abandon the race, seeing that his chances of winning a medal had disappeared. He has been overall winner of the World Cup mountain bike cross-country series five times (2003, 2006-2009) and has won 23 World Cup cross-country races as of year-end 2011. He won four consecutive cross-country Mountain Bike World Championships from 2004 to 2007. He has also won all ten French cross-country championship between 2003 and 2012. He currently rides for the BMC Racing Team. He previously rode for Bianchi (2001-2006) and Orbea (2007-2012).