?Ivan Fandino is the first performer to die in a French ring in nearly 100 years.
Celebrated Basque matador Ivan Fandino died Saturday after being fatally gored through the chest by a bull. He was 36. (Fandino isn't the only matador to suffer a serious bullfighting accident this year, either; this man lost his glass eye in the ring.)
Fandino was performing at the Aire-sur-l’Adour bullfighting festival near Pau in southern France when the bull, Burp, appeared to catch him in the side during a pass.
While attempting to flee, Fandino became entangled in his cape and fell to the ground, where the bull set upon him with its horns.
Other matadors were able to distract the animal before carrying Fandino from the ring.
However, on the way to the hospital, Fandino suffered two heart attacks, according to Agence France Press. He is survived by a wife and daughter. The bull was put down.
It was not the first time Fandino was injured in the bullfighting ring.
In 2015, a bull sent him airborne in Pamplona, and in 2014 he was knocked unconscious in a bullfight in France.
The sport of bullfighting at-large is popular in France and Spain, with some 1,800 events occurring each year in the latter country.
It is thought this event will renew debate over the merits of bullfighting as a sport and spectacle.
Close to 1,000 bulls are killed for sport each year in France, and though Fandino is the first matador killed in France in nearly 100 years, it is possible activists will seek to overturn the country’s 2012 legalization of the sport.
Below is footage of the fatal incident. The video is graphic.
?Ivan Fandino is the first performer to die in a French ring in nearly 100 years. Read Full Story
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