The story, by now, you all know: Emilien Jacquelin is the French biathlete fan and admirer of Marco Pantani's myth who obtained from the family of the great Romagna champion the gift of being able to face the Olympics wearing Marco's earring on his left earlobe.

A few days ago, Jacquelin had narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth in the 10 km Sprint, but today the dream became reality with a dedication to the great Pirate in the Pursuit event: Emilien Jacquelin won the bronze medal and on the final straight first touched the earlobe and then raised both hands to the sky to dedicate the success to his idol (race won by Swedish Ponsiluoma, silver to Norwegian Laegreid).

And shortly after, in the splendid biathlon stadium of Anterselva, Emilien Jacquelin symbolically brought Marco Pantani with him, 22 years and a day after his death, closing that Olympic circle that had seen the Romagna champion at the start, after a thousand controversies, in the road race at Sydney, won by Jan Ullrich, in the national team that also included Paolo Bettini, Michele Bartoli, Danilo Di Luca and Francesco Casagrande.

A classic Olympic story, that of Jacquelin, a gold medal story.