Conchita Cintrón Verrill

Conchita Cintrón Verrill, the "Goddess of the Bullring" has passed in Lisbon.

From Times Online:
"Conchita Cintrón was one of the most famous women ever to fight in a bullring. During the course of her short career — she retired at 27 — she killed more than 750 bulls and filled bullrings in both Europe and Latin America.

Her bullfighting skills on horseback and on foot were legendary and she was acclaimed by even the most demanding bullfighting critics. She was seriously injured while fighting in Mexico and defied a Spanish ban on female bullfighters.

Cintrón became a writer and in 1962 she published her life story. Memoirs of a Bullfighter was translated into English in 1968 with an introduction by Orson Welles. In 1991 Cintrón attended the investiture ceremony of the first French rejoneadora, María Sara, in the southern city of Nîmes."


From the Independent:
"Conchita Cintrón Verrill, who fought a long uphill battle to establish a central role for women as matadors, has died in Lisbon, where she had lived in retirement for many years.

Because there are fewer rejoneadors on the bullfight circuit in the hispanic world, this form of bullfighting has evolved as a side show in the world of tauromachia but, thanks to Cintrón, one that has enjoyed steady growth in recent decades.

Firstly, she cut a dazzling image when galloping into the bull ring, smartly dressed in gaucho hat, jacket, white blouse, slacks and boots, her horse rearing up and darting dangerously close to the bulls while she positioned herself with short banderillas in preparation for the final deadly waltz leading to the moment of truth.

Her image was further enhanced by her long blonde hair and her poise, one reason why she was known as La Diosa Rubia – the blonde goddess. Despite the suggestion of immortality suggested by her nickname, she acknowledged that the moment of truth sometimes worked both ways.