Geoff Capes, who competed for Great Britain in the shot put at three Olympic Games, won two Commonwealth titles and twice won the World’s Strongest Man competition, has died aged 75.
A family statement said: “The family of Geoffrey Capes would like to announce his sad passing today, 23rd October. Britain’s finest shot-putter and twice world’s strongest man.”
Capes was at the height of his sporting prowess in the 1970s, competing in the Great Britain team for 11 years, and racking up the largest number of athletics caps in history for his country. He became a household name after his track and field career was over, starring in the hugely popular Superstars TV programme which attracted 10 million viewers at its height and then winning the famous World’s Strongest Man title in 1983 and 1985.
Capes was UK shot put champion on three occasions. He claimed gold at the 1984 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, when he recorded a record throw of 20.74 metres. He then defended the title four years later in Edmonton, Canada.
He went on to win gold at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg and Munich in 1984 and 1986, respectively. He also won bronze in the European Championships in 1984 in Rome.
Capes represented Britain at three Olympic Games, he was sixth at Montreal 1976 and then fifth at Moscow 1980. He achieved his personal best throw of 21.68m in 1980, which stood as a British record until 2003.
The British Olympic medal-winning athlete Katharine Merry posted on X that she was “so sad to hear the news that Geoff Capes passed away” and paid tribute to “a real household name”.
A statement from British Athletics said: “British Athletics are saddened to hear the news of former British shot putter, Geoff Capes’ passing. Our condolences go out to his family and friends at this time.”
Guinness World Records posted on X: “In 1978, Geoff threw a standard 2.27 kg (5 lb) building brick 44.54 m (146 ft 1 in) at Braybrook School in Cambridgeshire, UK. His record has never been broken.”
The strongman was not limited in his pursuits by brawn and muscle as the other world title he held was the unexpected one of breeding budgerigars. He told the Guardian in 2003 of his passion for the birds.
“It all began in 1969,” he related, “when I was a policeman and went to deliver a warrant for non-payment of a fine. As I knocked on the recipient’s door, I saw lots of cages in the front room, full of birds of an incredible array of colours. I was intrigued.
“I went in and had a cup of tea with the owner, and spent an hour talking to him about his hobby. It was a shame that at the end of it I had to tell him I was arresting him.
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“But after I’d taken him down to the station and sorted out bail, he came back with a gift for me – three pairs of budgies. I went and got everything I’d need – a shed, breeding units, an aviary – and I’ve been breeding the birds ever since.”
Capes was born in 1949 in Lincolnshire, the seventh of nine children. He was the seventh child of Eileen Capes, though the eldest of her three children by her third husband Bill Capes.
After school, when he represented his county at basketball, football and cross country, he worked as a coalman and an agricultural labourer, before following in the footsteps of his grandfather, uncle and older brothers, he joined the police, working for ten years before representing his country at the Moscow Olympics.