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  "description": "A French biathlete is paying tribute to the legendary climber, wearing Pantani's earring for the duration of the Milano-Cortina Games.",
  "path": "/marco-pantanis-earring-is-in-the-winter-olympics/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-09T01:13:39.000Z",
  "site": "https://escapecollective.com",
  "tags": [
    "View this post on Instagram",
    "A post shared by Emilien Jacquelin (@emilienjck)",
    "an ambassador for Giant Bicycles France",
    "turns his lens to the sport",
    "the mutual friend] promised me that Émilien Jacquelin would only borrow it and return it to me after the Olympics. He insisted, and in the end I agreed,\" Tonina Pantani told the Italian sports publication [_Quotidiano Sportivo_",
    "Subscribe now"
  ],
  "textContent": "Here’s one you didn’t see coming: one of the leading contenders for Winter Olympics gold in the biathlon, the French athlete Émilien Jacquelin, will compete in Milano-Cortina this month wearing Marco Pantani’s earring.\n\nJacquelin has been a longtime fan of the Italian climber, who died of acute cocaine poisoning in 2004. Pantani is remembered as one of the sport's greats, despite pervasive doping suspicions. His career and life went into a spiral after being expelled from the 1999 Giro d'Italia on the second last stage, while in the lead, as a result of irregular blood values. Hurt by what he saw as unequal treatment, Pantani showed glimpses of his former self at the 2000 Tour de France, at which he won two stages, but would never again win a Grand Tour.\n\nHis last race was the 2003 Giro d'Italia (he finished 14th); less than a year later he was dead at the age of 34.\n\nFor Jacquelin, the abiding memory of Pantani is his charismatic riding style. The biathlete wrote in an Instagram post that Pantani had inspired his journey into sport since he first saw a VHS of the 1998 Tour de France as a five year old. “I wanted to be like him,” Jacquelin wrote. \"Not just win races, but to feel the thrill, and to make others feel it. To make spectacular comebacks. To be audacious.\"\n\n>  View this post on Instagram \n>\n> A post shared by Emilien Jacquelin (@emilienjck)\n\nThe 2026 Winter Olympics, held in Pantani’s native Italy, hold an additional layer of significance for Jacquelin, who won two silver medals in the previous Games. “I dreamed of these Olympic Games in Italy for years. Italy, the land of some of my ancestors … but above all, the land of Marco Pantani,” Jacquelin wrote. The Frenchman is, as you could probably imagine, still a cycling fan – he's an ambassador for Giant Bicycles France and in his other passion as a photographer, often turns his lens to the sport.\n\nTo mark the occasion of the Winter Olympics, Jacquelin was keen to pay tribute to his sporting idol with a physical expression of Pantani’s influence, and reached out to Pantani’s parents through a mutual friend to ask if he could borrow and wear Pantani’s earring for the duration of the Milano-Cortina Games.\n\nThat’s an admittedly strange request, as acknowledged by Pantani’s own mother. “I was very surprised at first and had to think about it. Sergio Piumetto the mutual friend] promised me that Émilien Jacquelin would only borrow it and return it to me after the Olympics. He insisted, and in the end I agreed,\" Tonina Pantani told the Italian sports publication [_Quotidiano Sportivo_.\n\n### This post is for subscribers only\n\nBecome a member to get access to all content\n\nSubscribe now",
  "title": "Marco Pantani’s earring is in the Winter Olympics",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-09T01:13:39.000Z"
}