Julio Aparicio Díaz (born 1969), also known as Julito Aparicio, is a Spanish
bullfighter
A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...
from
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
. Aparicio made his public début in bullfighting at the age of fourteen in 1984.
He was confirmed as a
torero
A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activity ...
, or matador, in 1994.
Early life
Aparicio was born on 4 January 1969 in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
, Spain, and is the son of Julio Aparicio Martínez, who was a famous torero in the 1950s and 1960s and the grandson of Julio Aparicio Nieto, who was also involved in bullfighting.
Aparicio's mother is
Malena Loreto, a famous
flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
dancer and his sister Kika Aparicio is an actress.
Aparicio made his first public appearance in relation to bullfighting on 2 September 1984 at the
Arenas de San Pedro
Arenas de San Pedro is a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 6,682 inhabitants. Its seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
...
.
In 1986, Aparicio, while thinking about studying law, decided to leave everything for a career in bullfighting at the age of sixteen.
Career
Aparicio débuted as a ''novillero'', a fighter of young bulls, on 8 February 1987 in
Gandia
Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar (or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of Valencia and north of Alicante. Vehicles can acce ...
, Spain alongside
Fernando Lozano and
Gregorio de Jesús as a
picador
A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...
. Later that year, he went to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
to defend the Spanish tradition of bullfighting.
Aparicio received his ''alternativa'' (alternative), a ceremony which a novillero starts fighting mature bulls for the first time as a torero, on 15 April 1990 at the Royal Cavalry of Seville.
After that, he made his French début in
Nîmes
Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...
on 16 May 1991 at the
Arena of Nîmes
The Arena of Nîmes is a Roman amphitheatre, situated in the French city of Nîmes. Built around 70 CE, shortly after the Colosseum of Rome, it is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.It is 133 meters long (145 yards) and ...
.
Aparicio had his ''confirmación'', a confirmation of his status as a torero, four years later on 18 May 1994 at
Las Ventas
The plaza de toros de Las Ventas, known simply as Las Ventas, is the largest bullfighting ring in Spain, located in the Guindalera quarter of the Salamanca district of Madrid. It was inaugurated on June 17, 1931. Its seating capacity of 23,798, m ...
in Madrid. He also received a confirmación in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
on 13 November 1994.
Aparicio was greatly praised from fans for his performance at his confirmación in May.
On the fifth bull of the afternoon, Aparicio fought a bull of the Alcurrucén breed named Cañego. This performance is regarded as his best,
and the one that established him as a top bullfighter.
From 1994 to 1998 he was advertised to participate in a majority of the bullfighting festivals held in Spain and France.
At the 1998 ''San Isidro Festival'', he served as the Godfather to
Morante de la Puebla for Puebla's confirmación ceremony.
On 4 June 1998 he announced his withdrawal from events and was inactive until 2000. He had his ''reaparición'', or comeback, on 15 March 2000 in an event with
José María Manzanares and
Juan Bautista in
Fitero
Fitero is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain.
The Monastery of Fitero
Summary
The Monastery of Fitero ( es, italic=yes, Monasterio de Santa María la Real or ''Monasterio de Sa ...
.
In the following years since his return to the major fairs where he gained his notability, he has had several mishaps which has resulted in not being reviewed as favorable compared to years past.
On 23 March 2008, at Las Ventas, he was gored by a bull which caused a severe laceration in his left thigh.
Also, prior to his accident on 21 May, he only had four performances for the 2010 season. He was considered favorable for two of the eight bulls he fought, and he was booed in his last performance at Nîmes, France before the accident.
He has drawn criticism of not being "glamorous", not being close enough to the bulls to be considered dangerous, and not making the bull "dance" in his later years.
On 21 May 2010 Aparicio was severely injured during a performance when a bull gored him.
Aparicio was participating in the San Isidro Festival in Las Ventas, performing with a 530
kg (1,168
lb) bull named Opiparo when he lost his footing and was gored through the neck and out of his mouth by the bull's right horn.
The incident happened as Aparicio was attempting the ''faena'', a series of passes in which a torero uses his cape and sword before delivering the ''estocada'', or death blow. The bull immediately withdrew its horn from Aparicio's neck, and Aparicio attempted to leave the
bullring
A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are o ...
, but lost consciousness and had to be carried out. Two other matadors stepped in and slew Opiparo. The result of the injury was a punctured
tongue
The tongue is a muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surfa ...
, a fractured
hard palate
The hard palate is a thin horizontal bony plate made up of two bones of the facial skeleton, located in the roof of the mouth. The bones are the palatine process of the maxilla and the horizontal plate of palatine bone. The hard palate spans ...
, a fractured upper
maxilla
The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The t ...
and several broken teeth.
Doctors at Las Ventas operated on Aparicio for an hour and performed an emergency
tracheotomy
Tracheotomy (, ), or tracheostomy, is a surgical airway management procedure which consists of making an incision (cut) on the anterior aspect (front) of the neck and opening a direct airway through an incision in the trachea (windpipe). The ...
to stabilize him.
He was transferred to the 12 October Hospital in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
where he underwent six hours of surgery to repair his fractured jaw. He left the
intensive care unit
220px, Intensive care unit
An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...
on 24 May after recovering from surgery.
He went back to the hospital in critical condition on 28 May due to acute
respiratory failure
Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...
that required
ventilation
Ventilation may refer to:
* Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation
** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing
*** Ventilator, a ma ...
through a
breathing tube due to swelling from an infection.
He left the hospital on 6 June after recovering once again.
After the accident, Aparicio fired his manager Simon Casas
who had said in an interview that Aparicio would not be able to psychologically recover so quickly. Aparicio made a return to bullfighting in
Pontevedra
Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the ''Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality whi ...
on 1 August, ten weeks after the accident.
He later revealed that on the day of the accident, he had competed with a broken middle finger on his left hand.
Career highlights
See also
*
Bullfighting
Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations.
There are several variations, including some forms wh ...
*
List of bullfighters
The following is a list of notable male bullfighters which include includes bullfighters by country. The list of female bullfighters catalogues the spread of women in the sport.
Colombia
* Luis Bolívar (born 1985).
* Pepe Cáceres (1935–1987) ...
*
Torero
A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activity ...
References
Further reading
* (article by Robert Bérard and Jean-Marie Magnan)
*
*
* (preface
Jean Lacouture
Jean Lacouture (9 June 1921 – 16 July 2015) was a journalist, historian and author. He was particularly famous for his biographies.
Career
Jean Lacouture was born in Bordeaux, France. He began his career in journalism in 1950 in ''Combat'' ...
and François Zumbiehl)
*
External links
Julio Aparicio(in Spanish) at Portal Taurino
(in Spanish) at Arte Toreo
Julio Aparicio(in Spanish) at Mundotoro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aparicio Diaz, Julio
1969 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Seville
Spanish bullfighters