A famous Spanish matador named Iván Fandiño died in 2017 after being gored by a bull during a festival in southwest France.
The encounter When he got caught in his cape during the Aire-sur-l’Adour bullfighting competition, the 36-year-old lost his footing.
Continue reading to find out more about his harrowing final moments, which many people still recall today.
A parent from Spain’s Basque Country, Fandiño had over a decade of experience as a professional matador and was notorious for taking on bulls that other matadors in the sport considered too dangerous. He had been involved in an earlier battle before he stepped into the ring again on the day of the accident.
During the combat, Fandiño lost his cape and fell to the ground, where he was struck by the horn of the charging bull. He was stabbed in the chest by the beast, which weighed around half a ton and punctured his lungs and other vital organs.
Despite his severe bleeding, Fandiño was still awake as he was removed from the stadium. Witnesses claim that he said, “Hurry up, I’m dying,” as his final words.He suffered a fatal heart attack while route to the hospital.
The turn of events was so unbelievable that fellow matador Juan del Álamo, who eventually killed the bull, stated, “I can’t believe it.” None of us can understand how that could have happened because it happened so swiftly. The bull’s hindquarters knocked him down, causing him to fall face down.
Fandiño had already sustained serious wounds. In 2014, he was knocked out in the ring in Bayonne, France, and in 2015, he was flung into the air during a battle in Pamplona, Spain. But because it was the first matador death in France for nearly a century, his death shocked the bullfighting fraternity. The regional French daily Sud-Ouest reported that the last of these was Isidoro Mari Fernando, who died in Béziers in 1921.
King Felipe VI, who hailed Fandiño as a “great bullfighting figure,” was among the many honors that were paid to him throughout Spain after his death. The prime minister at the time, Mariano Rajoy, also paid his respects.
Fandiño died less than a year after Spanish matador Víctor Barrio was gored to death in a televised event, making him the first matador to die in Spain in thirty years. Another well-known bullring death was Barrio.
Bullfighting remains a highly controversial tradition. It was declared legal in France in 2012 after judges found that it was a part of the country’s regional culture, even though it was illegal in other places. Spain continues to safeguard the practice despite growing calls from animal rights advocates for a total ban.
