Julio Aparicio Díaz

Julio Aparicio Díaz (born 1969), also known as Julito Aparicio, is a Spanish bullfighter from Seville. Aparicio made his public début in bullfighting at the age of fourteen in 1984.[2] He was confirmed as a torero, or matador, in 1994.[1]

Julio Aparicio Díaz
Julio Aparicio Díaz in 1997.
Personal information
Birth nameJulio Aparicio Díaz
Nickname(s)Julito
Born (1969-01-04) 4 January 1969
Seville, Spain
Sport
SportBullfighting
RankTorero
Bullfighting career
SchoolSevillian
Début novillero8 February 1987
Gandia, Spain
Alternativa15 April 1990 
 • PlaceSeville, Spain
 • GodfatherCurro Romero
 • WitnessJuan Antonio Ruiz
Confirmación18 May 1994 
 • PlaceMadrid, Spain
 • GodfatherJosé Ortega Cano
 • WitnessJesulín de Ubrique
RelativesJulio Aparicio Martínez (father)
Julio Aparicio Nieto (grandfather)
Kika Aparicio (sister)
Malena Loreto (mother)
AttorneyJavier Gonzalez[1]
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Aparicio and the second or maternal family name is Díaz.

Early life

Aparicio was born on 4 January 1969 in Seville, 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.[3][4] Aparicio's mother is Malena Loreto, a famous flamenco dancer and his sister Kika Aparicio is an actress.[5][6] Aparicio made his first public appearance in relation to bullfighting on 2 September 1984 at the Arenas de San Pedro.[2] In 1986, Aparicio, while thinking about studying law, decided to leave everything for a career in bullfighting at the age of sixteen.[7]

Career

Aparicio débuted as a novillero, a fighter of young bulls, on 8 February 1987 in Gandia, Spain alongside Fernando Lozano and Gregorio de Jesús as a picador. Later that year, he went to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to defend the Spanish tradition of bullfighting.[8] 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.[1] After that, he made his French début in Nîmes on 16 May 1991 at the Arena of Nîmes.[9]

Aparicio had his confirmación, a confirmation of his status as a torero, four years later on 18 May 1994 at Las Ventas in Madrid. He also received a confirmación in Mexico on 13 November 1994.[1] Aparicio was greatly praised from fans for his performance at his confirmación in May.[10] On the fifth bull of the afternoon, Aparicio fought a bull of the Alcurrucén breed named Cañego. This performance is regarded as his best,[10] and the one that established him as a top bullfighter.[11]

From 1994 to 1998 he was advertised to participate in a majority of the bullfighting festivals held in Spain and France.[11] At the 1998 San Isidro Festival, he served as the Godfather to Morante de la Puebla for Puebla's confirmación ceremony.[12] 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.[11]

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.[11][13] On 23 March 2008, at Las Ventas, he was gored by a bull which caused a severe laceration in his left thigh.[11] 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.[13] 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.[13]

On 21 May 2010 Aparicio was severely injured during a performance when a bull gored him.[14] 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.[14] 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 he attempted to leave the bullring, 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, a fractured hard palate, a fractured upper maxilla and several broken teeth.[15] Doctors at Las Ventas operated on Aparicio for an hour and performed an emergency tracheotomy to stabilize him.[15] He was transferred to the 12 October Hospital in Madrid where he underwent six hours of surgery to repair his fractured jaw. He left the intensive care unit on 24 May after recovering from surgery.[16] He went back to the hospital in critical condition on 28 May due to acute respiratory failure that required ventilation through a breathing tube due to swelling from an infection.[17] He left the hospital on 6 June after recovering once again.[18]

After the accident, Aparicio fired his manager Simon Casas[19] 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 on 1 August, ten weeks after the accident.[20] He later revealed that on the day of the accident, he had competed with a broken middle finger on his left hand.[21]

Career highlights
Julio Aparicio at a fair in 2008.
Event: Location: Date: Bulls or steers: Notes: Refs:
Début novillero Gandia, Spain 8 February 1987 El Torreón
  • Cartel: Fernando Lozano
  • Cartel: Gregorio de Jesús
 [1][9]
Presentación Seville, Spain 16 July 1989 Torrestrella
(mixed with Curro)
  • Cartel: Curro Vásquez
 [9][22]
Alternativa Seville, Spain 15 April 1990 Torrestrella [1][9]
Début in France Nîmes, France 16 May 1991 Sánchez Delp [9]
Confirmación Seville, Spain 18 May 1994 Manolo Gonzalez [1][9]
Confirmación Mexico 13 November 1994 Xajay
  • Godfather: Juan Mora
  • Witness: Manolo Mejía
 [1][9]
Reaparición Fitero, Spain 15 March 2000 Carmen Segovia
  • Cartel: José María Manzanares
  • Cartel: Juan Bautista
 [9][11]

See also

References
  1. "Julio Aparicio Díaz" (in Spanish). Portal Taurino. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  2. "Julio Aparicio" (in Spanish). taurologia.com. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  3. "1ª corrida de la Feria del Aniversario en Las Ventas" (in Spanish). El País. 2008-06-02. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  4. Solar, Igor I. (2010-05-21). "Spanish bullfighter gored by the bull is in 'critical condition'". DigitalJournal.com. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  5. "El torero Julio Aparicio, conmocionado por la muerte de su madre" (in Spanish). vanitatis.com. 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  6. "Malena Loreto, Kika Aparicio y Enrique Miguel Rodriguez en la Feria de Abril" (in Spanish). Sevilla Press. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  7. "Julio Aparicio" (in Spanish). El País. 1990-04-13. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  8. South Africa Foundation (1987). South Africa international. 18. p. 268. External link in |title= (help)
  9. "Lidiadores: Julio Aparicio" (in Spanish). mundotoro.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  10. Cano, Rosa Jiminez (2010-05-23). "Julio Aparicio es sometido a una segunda operación tras la cogida en Las Ventas" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  11. "Julio Aparicio" (in Spanish). artetoreo.com. 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  12. "Aparicio Díaz, Julio (1969-VVVV)" (in Spanish). mcnbiografias.com. Retrieved 2011-11-16.
  13. Moreno, Juan (2010-08-13). "Matador Who Cheated Death Makes His Comeback Part 2: A Celebration of Spain". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  14. "Matador gets Spain and suffering". New York Post. 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  15. Moreno, Juan (2010-08-13). "Matador Who Cheated Death Makes His Comeback Part 3: Miracle in the Arena". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  16. "Spanish bullfighter Julio Aparicio out of intensive care after brutal goring in throat". Fox News. Associated Press. 2010-05-24. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  17. Cano, Rosa Jimenez (2010-05-28). "Julio Aparicio regresa a la UCI en estado grave" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  18. Cano, Rosa Jimenez (2010-07-31). "No me voy a ir a casa" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  19. "Fast der ganze Mund zerstört" (in German). Der Spiegel. 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  20. Moreno, Juan (2010-08-13). "Matador Who Cheated Death Makes His Comeback Part 4: A Story of Courage". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  21. "MADRID. Julio Aparicio anuncia su reaparición para el 1 de agosto en Pontevedra. Por Barquerito" (in Spanish). torosdos.com. 2010-06-25. Retrieved 2011-11-15.
  22. "Brutal cornada a Aparicio" (in Spanish). Milenio. 2010-05-22. Archived from the original on 2010-08-28. Retrieved 2011-11-15.

Further reading
  • Bérard, Robert (2003). Histoire et dictionnaire de la Tauromachie (in French). Paris: Bouquins Laffont. ISBN 978-2-221-09246-0. (article by Robert Bérard and Jean-Marie Magnan)
  • Olano, Antonio D. La Hora de la Verdad: El Toreo al Desnudo (in Spanish). Editorial Visión Libros. ISBN 978-84-9886-969-9.
  • Olano, Antonio D. La Gran VÍa Se Rie (in Spanish). Editorial Visión Libros. ISBN 978-84-9983-965-3.
  • Popelin, Claude; Harté, Yves (1994) [1970]. La Tauromachie (in French). Paris: Seuil. ISBN 978-2-02-021433-9. (preface Jean Lacouture and François Zumbiehl)
  • Schoenfeld, Bruce (1992). The Last Serious Thing: A Season at the Bullfights. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-72748-2.
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