San Fermin Fair: Borja Jimenez, seriously injured and two ears in San Fermin | Culture

Goring is part of bullfighting, but it is a serious setback that shatters the bullfighter’s dreams and leaves the body of the witness upset. It is impossible not to feel solidarity with the victim of this somersault in which a human being is left at the mercy of the thin horns of a bull.

This afternoon, Borja Jiménez suffered a very serious injury when he went to kill the sixth bull. He had stabbed the bull in his first attempt, knowing how much was at stake, and he shot straight at the bull and as he buried the sword he was gored in the upper and inner part of the right thigh. When he stood up it was obvious that he was really wounded. He tried to stay in the ring to savour the triumph, but seeing the blood that was flowing down his leg and how the bullfighter’s expression changed, his companions urgently took him to the infirmary. And there his team took him the two ears he had won after his silver men went around the ring with the trophies.

Was Borja Jiménez’s performance worth two ears? The question is a nuanced one. Before he went in for the kill, it wasn’t, even though his work was dotted with brilliant moments, perhaps not rounded off by the noble bull’s lack of stamina. He had begun the muleta performance on his knees in the centre of the ring and made up to six long right-handed passes that managed to arouse the public’s interest. Once upright, he adapted to the bull’s goodness and there were two series, one on each side, the first tempered and linked with the right hand, and the natural passes clean and deep. And there the performance ended because the bull gave up. But Jiménez, well-trained, went from artist to boisterous, he went back to his knees, and in this way, and to the delight of the crowd, he showed off various displays and brave and hollow theatricality that so excite in this ring. And then, he stabbed. However, his gesture of a proud bullfighter of throwing himself on top of the bull’s neck to secure the trophies makes him worthy of the two handkerchiefs that the president showed.

The rest of the bullfight was not very interesting. It is true that the bulls from La Palmosilla did not offer the desired opportunities, but the trio insisted, like almost all bullfighters today, on giving passes, many passes, dull, insipid, boring, and forgetting the unequivocal concept of bullfighting.

Urdiales, for example, first came up against the only bull of the bullfight, demanding and therefore difficult, and the fine bullfighter from La Rioja had a hard time getting used to the vibrant and temperamental charge. And he didn’t get used to it. There were some beautifully executed free passes, but not the powerful and artistic response that the bull deserved. The fourth was very lackluster and nothing happened.

Fernando Adrián received his first with four faroles on his knees in the third and a couple of graceful aprons as proof of the desire with which he arrived in Pamplona. With the muleta in hand he transmitted security, confidence and dedication, and without any hesitation he gave empty passes to a casteless and dull bull that deserved another treatment. He veroniqueó with good taste to the fifth, and muletated without command or order, passes and more passes, without saying anything before another opponent of dull behavior. Without any scientific explanation they granted him one ear.

Borja Jiménez got down on his knees (in Pamplona, ​​putting oneself in such an uncomfortable position is highly valued) in the middle to receive his first with a long pass, and at the start of the muleta work he sat on the stirrup to overlook another animal that was overflowing with dullness and, like his companion, he gave an abundance of tedious passes. In his defense, he drew two quites with Adrián’s bulls, the first with graceful chicuelinas and the other with tight aprons, of praiseworthy elegance.