Hilda Tenorio

Hilda Tenorio

Hilda Tenorio on the bullring
Personal information
Birth name	Hilda Eliana Tenorio Patiño
Born	(1986-06-11) June 11, 1986 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Height	158 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Sport
Sport	Bullfighting
Rank	Matador
Bullfighting career
Début novillero	October 10, 2003
Alternativa	February 28, 2010

Hilda Eliana Tenorio Patiño (born June 11, 1986) is a Mexican bullfighter. She received the alternativa in the Plaza de Toros México on February 28, 2010, thus becoming the first woman to take the alternativa in the great Plaza, the largest in the world.

Life and career

Early life and education

Hilda Eliana Tenorio Patiño was born in Morelia, Michoacán on June 11, 1986, the daughter of Dr. Fernando Tenorio Cabrera and Hilda Patiño. Since she was a child she had the best average in her class, receiving various recognitions in elementary, middle and high school, where she even received the Premio Padre de la Patria given to the best students in her home state.

She studied a Law degree at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo where she graduated with honors.

Hilda Tenorio performing a picada on one of her bulls. It remains a unique case in bullfighting history where a female bullfighter rode her horse to perform such a move.

Early bullfighting career

From the age of 13 she became interested in bullfighting, and after several months training with her teacher Rutilo Morales, her first performance as a becerrista occurred on May 30, 2001 in Salvatierra, Guanajuato, where she alternated with Joselito Adame.

Professional career

After an extensive tour as a becerrista throughout her nation, where she even fought in two evenings in the Plaza de Toros México, she officially debuted on this same demanding and great stage as a bullfighter on October 10, 2003, the afternoon in which she exited the bullring on the shoulders of men, a traditional practice in bullfighting for when the bullfighter's performance was considered astounding.

On the 19th of the same month, on the same stage, she goes around the ring for a pair of banderillas in a perfomance that was considered surprising where she did something that many have attributed as her invention: "The Double Pair" (Spanish: El par doble).

She is the winner of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 novillero seasons of the Plaza de Toros México.

In 2005, she performed the feat of removing the 10-year draught in which a bullfighter failed to cut three ears in a single afternoon in the Plaza de Toros México. It remains a unique feat in a female bullfighter.

Hilda Tenorio in one of her astounding exits at the Plaza de Toros México.

Hilda Tenorio's infatuation with the biggest bullring in the world, the Plaza de Toros México continued, and it is she who wrote in gold letters one of the most memorable chapters of this arena. On February 28, 2010, after 64 years of history, Hilda Tenorio became the first woman to become a bullfighter in the "cathedral of bullfighting" in Mexico. She received her alternativa from the hands of Manolo Mejía and a witness from Almería, Ruiz Manuel, with bulls from the Autrique ranch that were also around six years old. That afternoon, she became the first bullfighter to cut an ear in the Plaza México and exited on the shoulders of men amid the uproar of the public who ecstatically recognized the matchless value of the bullfighter.

Hilda Tenorio with her fully grown bull in her alternativa fight.

On May 8, 2010 he appeared in Saltillo, Coahuila, with an important victory against bulls from the San Martín livestock. In relation to her performance, the renowned bullfighting journalist Don Julio Téllez, claimed in the Toros y toreros program of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional: "Hilda Tenorio is the most important bullfighter in universal bullfighting history."

On May 15, 2016 in Tepotzotlán, Mexico, she became the first and only woman in world history to perform an encerrona, that is, she alone dealt with the entire bullfight against six bulls. During this bullfight an unusual event was recorded, for the first time a female bullfighter had the audacity to perform a picada on one of her bulls.

On May 3, 2019 she was seriously injured by a goring received during a presentation in the Plaza del Relicario in Puebla.