Teenage matador kills six bulls in a day

7 Feb 2010, 1:30 pm   -   Source: AP
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Many critics say 16 year old Jairo Migeul Sanchez Alonso is too young to fight bulls. (AP)

Many critics say 16 year old Jairo Migeul Sanchez Alonso is too young to fight bulls. (AP)

A 16-year-old Spanish matador killed six bulls in one afternoon on Saturday, pulling off a feat normally attempted only by seasoned veterans and displaying the ears from animals he had just slain.

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A 16-year-old Spanish matador killed six bulls in one afternoon on Saturday, pulling off a feat normally attempted only by seasoned veterans and winning trophies for his skill - ears from animals he had just slain.

Jairo Miguel Sanchez Alonso, who nearly died from a horrific goring in Mexico in 2007, smiled broadly and waved to a friendly hometown crowd after a pageant that took about two and a half hours.

A tall and slender boy who is also amazingly articulate for his age, he showed off his stuff in an arena called Plaza Era de los Martires, or Time of the Martyrs.

The bullfighter, who goes by the stage name of Jairo Miguel, turned in his best performance with bull No 5, a hulking black specimen that weighed 435kg.

After skillful cape-work, he finished off the bull with a single deathblow from his sword, sliding it into a spot where it severed the beast's spinal chord.

With the rest of the bulls he needed around three stabs.

This is considered too many, and Jairo Miguel acknowledged frustration with that part of his work, although he felt his effort was a success overall and said he was never scared.

 "I brought out the best in myself that I could," he told said.

"It was a good afternoon of bullfighting, and people were not bored."

For the fifth bull, he was awarded the animal's severed ears, one of the bullfighting world's prizes for a job well done.

Matador displays organs to crowd

He took a slow victory lap around the ring, showing the organs to the crowd.

Minutes beforehe stepped into the ring, Jairo Miguel hugged his father Antonio, a former bullfighter, and in a powerfully emotional scene they both cried.

Wearing a sparkling white suit of lights with gold sequins that twinkled in the late afternoon sun, the young toreador was greeted by a two-thirds full 5,000-seat bullring in Caceres, in Spain's southwest Extremadura region.

The average age for matadors in Spain is 25 to 30.

Jairo Miguel spent around four years fighting in Latin America to escape the strict age limit of 16 in Spain.

The normal format for a bullfight is three matadors taking on two animals each. Aficionados say it is extremely rare for a matador as young as 16 to fight six, a challenge requiring great physical and mental stamina.

In an interview the night before the big fight, Jairo Miguel said he was nervous but confident. A boy with a baby face and a nice smile, he bears a scar from the ghastly goring that nearly punctured his heart in Mexico.

He got started at age 6, locking horns with a young cow.

"Ever since I was very small I have had this in my genes," he said.

"I have practically grown up with bulls."

His mother, Celia Alonso, said she chain-smokes in the days leading up to one of her son's fights, cannot sleep even with tranquilisers and would prefer he do anything but this - "football, computers, whatever".

"But he has chosen this and I have to support him," Alonso said.

"All I know is what his eyes say when he struts out into the ring."

Spain does not licence bullfighters before they are 16, so Sanchez's father took his 11-year-old son to Latin America to pursue his career.

Bullfighting is a contentious issues in Spain. In December, the state of Catalonia voted to ban the sport many view as inhumane. So far, only the Canary Islands has chosen to differ from the rest of the federation and ban the sport.
 

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Your Comments

Pageant or barbarism?

Clavdivs - from Sydney, 2 years ago

The Spanish are not "barbaric" which means "crude and uncivilized" they are rather the opposite. Contrast this with the halal meat trade, which kills by bleeding slowly. This is our live export trade. Look at the way we mistreat animals by our industrial production of meat. In a world where animals are lifeless commodities, bullfighting startles and disgusts those who have lost touch with reality, the indolent, the complacent, those who will never know the zest of life like a Spaniard does.

Disgusting

Hugh - from Perth, WA, 2 years ago

Words can't describe the disgust I have for this young man and the activity of Bull Fighting. It is so unimaginably cruel and straight out of the dark ages. Not happy about three stabs to kill the bulls; I bet the bulls weren't impressed either. I reckon we should cancel our Air Warfare Destroyer contract until they put an end to it.

Matadors

oncewas - from bribie island, 2 years ago

Shame on him and shame on Spain for allowing this barbaric occurence, cannot call it sport. What would be sport would be to match these bullfighters with a bull that has not been bled, weakened and run ragged to the point where it stumbles about head down. Then we would see how brave they are with their pretty capes and pointy swords. Oh, and nobody to rescue them when they get into trouble.

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