Martín Gaitán (born June 15, 1978 in Paraná) is a former rugby union football player and current coach from Argentina.

Martín Gaitán
Date of birth (1978-06-15) June 15, 1978 (age 46)
Place of birthParaná, Entre Ríos, Argentina
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight85 kg (13 st 5 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
2002-2007 Biarritz ()
1997-2002 CASI ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1998-2007 Argentina 10 (40)
Correct as of 30 September 2007
National sevens team
Years Team Comps
1998-2002 Argentina 22

Gaitán started his career with Club Atlético San Isidro in 1997. He soon earned his debut for the national team, playing against the United States team in 1998. He then spent most of the next four years playing sevens. He played as a centre.

In 2002, Gaitán moved to France to play for Biarritz, but only played two Heineken Cup seasons due to having a European passport[1] and in 2003 he was selected to be part of the Argentina Rugby World Cup squad. In 2005, he eventually played in the French Championship from the 2004-05 season, taking part at the victory of the Bouclier de Brennus. He did not took part at the 2005 and 2006 finals due to a knee injury.[2]

He was selected to play for Argentina at the 2007 tournament, but a scan revealed that he had a blocked artery in his heart,[3] this meant that missed the tournament in order to have surgery. He eventually had to retire from rugby because of this.[4][5][6]

In 2009, he became coach of the Biarritz Olympique youth team and video analyst for the first-grade team.[7]

In 2012 and 2013, he was named assistant coach for Argentina under head coaches Santiago Phelan[8][9] and Daniel Hourcade. Between 2013 and 2015, he was in charge of formating young coaches for Union Argentina de Rugby.

References

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  1. ^ Sein, Pierre (22 April 2004). "" L'"espoir" Gaïtan " ("Gaitan" the 'hope")". Sud Ouest.
  2. ^ Sabathié, Pierre (2 March 2007). "" Le plaisir de Gaïtan "". Sud Ouest.
  3. ^ Sabathié, Pierre (24 December 2007). "" Martin Gaitan, le miraculé "". Sud Ouest.
  4. ^ "Últimas noticias de Argentina y el mundo".
  5. ^ "Los Pumas: Senillosa es el reemplazante de Gaitán". Archived from the original on 16 October 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Martín Gaitán se recuperó y le darán el alta mañana". clarin.com. 28 February 2008. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008.
  7. ^ Becquet, Éric (15 May 2010). "" L'œil de Martin Gaitan "". Sud Ouest.
  8. ^ "Argentine : Phelan reste sélectionneur". rugbyrama.fr (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  9. ^ Cronista.com (22 December 2011). "Phelan arregló con la UAR y dirigirá a Los Pumas en el Cuatro Naciones 2012". www.cronista.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2024.
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