"The Blond Goddess" in action, riding a horse that was a present from president candidate Galo Plaza, a rich hacienda owner and an amateur bull fighting himself. Conchita is not dressed in the traditional bull fighter costume but in clothes she has designed herself. Much more practical and a lot more cowboy like. She is after all a woman.
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Conchita Cintrón, the Blonde Goddess of |
As Conchita Cintrón visited Ecuador’s capitol Quito, a fabulous "Conchita fever" hit the town. The world famous female bull fighter arrived by plane with her impresario and her 8 horses. After the corrida, the bull fight she left for Europe.
Conchita’s father is from Peru, her mother from Ireland. Her features are from her mother’s side and her temperament from her father’s. She entered the bull fighter ring for the first time at 12 and killed her first bull at 15.
She’s been lucky, she’s had only one bad moment in the ring and that gave her a 5 inch deep wound from a bull’s horn. But as she says herself, it wasn’t a real defeat, I killed the bull before I left the ring. Then I spent 14 days in the hospital.
Watching Conceit on horseback as a rejoined is nerve chattering. She is a marvelous rider and her dangerous dance around the bull makes the people on the stand go from ovations to losing their breath in suspense. A rejoneador – rejoneadora in Conchita’s case, puts short feathered spears, banderillas, into 
the bulls neck from horseback, and this has to be done quick as lightning to prevent the horse from being hit by the bull’s horns.
Conchita is a master in the dancing play with the capa, the red "flag". This part of the bull fight is both elegant and the most dangerous part for the torero, the bull fighter. For most people unused to bull fighting this is the only part of the whole corrida,
bull fight that seams human at all.
Conchita touching the bull’s horn. It looks easy enough, but the bull might attack at any moment an the result is often a wounded or dead bull fighter. Many a torero has been wounded or killed doing this and believe it or not when it happens the people on the stand cheer for the bull. For a torero, being carried wounded out of the ring is a total defeat.
The last part of the bulls meaningless suffering in the ring. Conchita kills the bull with the espada, the sword. As a woman she hasn’t got the strength it takes to do this in one try, so she has to stab the bull several times before the poor animal finally dies. This is not Conchita’s problem alone , but it happens to a lot of male toreros as well.
From the Swedish magazine "SE" – No 23, June 1948
In her farewell fight in 1951 in Spain, Conchita defied all the traditions. She rode into the ring on a horse, dismounted and fought the bull with textbook precision and then threw her sword on the ground and refused to kill the bull. She was arrested for refusing to kill the bull! She was released, however, when the crowd cheered her. She never appeared in the bull rings again – Ted
Conchita Cintrón at Wikipedia
Conchita Cintrón on Mundo Andino
Conchita Cintrón’s obituary in The New York Times
Conchita Cintrón on Google Images
Conchita Cintrón movie on YouTube 1
Conchita Cintrón movie on YouTube 2
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