Martín Gaitán (born June 15, 1978, in Paraná) is a former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

football player and current coach from Argentina. Gaitán started his career with

Club Atlético San Isidro The Club Atlético de San Isidro (mostly known for its acronym CASI) is an Argentina, Argentine sports club based in the city of San Isidro, Buenos Aires, San Isidro in Greater Buenos Aires. Originally established as a association football, footb ...

in 1997. He soon earned his debut for the national team, playing against

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

team in 1998. He then spent most of the next four years playing sevens. He played as a centre. In 2002, Gaitán moved to France to play for

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

, but only played two

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

seasons due to having a European passport and in 2003 he was selected to be part of the Argentina

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

squad. In 2005, he eventually played in the French Championship from the 2004–05 season, taking part at the victory of the Bouclier de Brennus. He did not took part at the 2005 and 2006 finals due to a knee injury. He was selected to play for Argentina at the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

tournament, but a scan revealed that he had a blocked artery in his heart, this meant that missed the tournament in order to have surgery. He eventually had to retire from rugby because of this. In 2009, he became coach of the

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

youth team and video analyst for the first-grade team. In 2012 and 2013, he was named assistant coach for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

under head coaches Santiago Phelan and Daniel Hourcade. Between 2013 and 2015, he was in charge of formating young coaches for Union Argentina de Rugby.

References

External links

RWC2003 profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaitan, Martin 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Paraná, Entre Ríos Argentine rugby union players Rugby union centres Club Atlético San Isidro rugby union players Biarritz Olympique players Argentina international rugby union players Argentina international rugby sevens players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players Argentine expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century Argentine sportsmen