This year The Athletics Museum celebrated British thrower and strong man Geoff Capes (23 August 1949 – 23 October 2024) at the Pickering Memorial International on 1 June with an exhibition in the Pavilion at Loughborough University reflecting on a career across three sports, with memories from those who knew him.
Celebrating Geoff Capes
The exhibition
Objects kindly lent by the Capes Family.
Image credit: Claire McQuillan
A pop up exhibtion celebrating the life and achievements of Geoff Capes took place in the Pavilion at the Paula Ratcliff Stadium, Loughborough University as part of the Pickering Memorial International competition on 1 June with images and memories of Geoff and objects kindly lent by the Capes family, including Geoff’s 28 pound weight used for the Highland Games 28lbs weight throw, and the stone he use for the Stone Put, an 18lbs granite stone picked out of the River Dee by Geoff himself.
A career across three sports
Renowned British athlete Geoff Capes excelled across multiple strength disciplines. In athletics Capes specialised in shot put, accruing European, Commonwealth and World titles, and representing Great Britain at three Olympic Games. His throwing prowess led him to Highland Games titles, and his strength saw him twice crowned World’s Strongest Man.
Born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire as the seventh of nine siblings, and amazingly at 1.97m / 6’5 ½“ not the tallest in the family, Capes’ sporting talent was obvious early on. He represented Lincolnshire in basketball, football and cross-country as a youth, and ran a 4:48 mile and 23.7s in the 200m. It was as a thrower however, working with coach Stuart Storey at Holbeach Athletics Club that he thrived, becoming the dominant force in British shot-putting throughout the 1970s, winning the AAA Shot Put Championship 7 times and becoming UK Champion on three separate occasions.
Capes’ first major Games were the 1970 Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh, where he placed fourth.
Four years later in Christchurch he took Commonwealth gold, a title he would successfully defend in 1978 in Edmonton. Between 1974 and 1978 Capes took a total of 7 European shot put medals, two gold, three silver and two bronze.
Capes’ first Olympic experience was the 1972 Munich Games, aged 21. Though he did not get beyond qualifying in these Games, he returned in 1976 as a strong contender having thrown 21.55m in May that year and with recent European and Commonwealth success to his name. In the qualifying rounds he came second but eventually placed sixth in the final with a mark of 20.36m. East German athlete Udo Beyer took the gold with 21.05m, 0.5m shorter than Capes’ season’s best.
May 1980 saw Capes set a new British Record which would stand until 2003, throwing 21.68m at Cwmbran just weeks before the Olympic Games were due to be held in Moscow, making him a strong favourite for the Olympic title. However political tensions between the UK and USSR threatened to derail his efforts. The British Government banned members of the Armed Forces and Emergency Services from competing in Moscow. Capes, who had been a Police Officer with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary since 1970 took the decision to go anyway, sacrificing his career, his income, and his pension in order to compete. In the event, a bad back prevented him throwing his best, and his effort of 20.50m saw him come fifth in the Olympic final, with Vladimir Kiselyov of USSR putting 21.35m to take gold and the Olympic Record – though this was still 0.33m shorter than Capes’ British Record. Capes later described the result of the 1980 Olympic final as leaving him “numbed with disappointment”. Nevertheless, Capes is one of GBs most capped and most successful athletes, with a total of 67 British caps and 35 wins, and a further 35 caps for England.
Beyond athletics, Geoff’s strength and throwing abilities led him to the Highland Games and professional Strong Man competitions. He competed multiple times in Scotland and around the world in Highland Games, becoming the World Heavy Events champion in 1981. He took the title again in 1983 and then successfully defended it for the next four years, setting records in Bramer Stone throw, Stone put, Weight throw and Weight over bar events in the process.
Capes won Britain’s inaugural Strongest Man competition in 1979, and after the 1980 Moscow Olympics became a professional Strong Man.
Particularly known for his arm and hand strength, bending steel bars and tearing telephone books in half with ease, Capes won Europe’s Strongest Man in 1980 and was invited to compete at the World’s Strongest Man Competition that year, in which he came third. Over the next few years, Capes was crowned Britain’s Strongest Man twice more, in 1981 and 1983, regained his European title in 1982 and again 1984, and became World’s Strongest Man in 1984 and 1986.
Image credit: Geoff Capes Foundation
Over the course of his career, Geoff Capes was ranked World Number 1 in all three of his chosen fields.
Beyond competition
Capes, always an animal lover, became a renowned budgerigar breeder, winning many ribands for his tiny charges. He served as president of the British Budgerigar Society in 2008.
He established the Lincolnshire Throws Academy and coached many successful athletes in both athletics and strength competitions, including working as a mentor coach with the British Olympic shot put team. He was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018 in recognition of his outstanding achievements in athletics and is recognised in the World’s Strongest Man Hall of Fame.
Capes’ daughter Emma won English Schools’ shot put and the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association Shot Put Championship in 1990, going on to take bronze at the Youth Olympics, while his son Lewis played American Football. Grandsons Donovan and Lawson are the third generation representing the Capes family in shot put. The Capes legacy lives on.
Memories of Geoff
Visitors were encouraged to share their memories of Geoff as part if the exhibition. Below are a selection of memories from friends, coaches and fellow athletes.
I remember watching Geoff winning World Strongest Man in 1985 – it astonished me the strength that he had. I had a phone call with Geoff in the summer of 2024 – he was exactly as I had expected. Some people say you should never meet your heroes, this was not the case following my call with Geoff, he was a true gentleman and it was an honour to have spent half an hour discussing his Grandson Lawson with him.
Darren Steer, Choice Agency
Geoff was a great friend and remained so until he passed away. He would give this large aggressive exterior but underneath he was fun loving, competitive in very thing, caring, thoughtful and like a big brother. When a couple of us as young ladies first made it on the GB team he watched over us, especially when we were abroad. He always made sure that we were safe.
One of my vivid memories with Geoff was on one of my first internationals abroad as a 21 year old I sat next to him on the plane. I had not flown since I was a young child, so was a bit anxious.
Sitting next to Geoff was terrifying. Anyone that knew Geoff knows that he was a very bad flyer and was only comfortable if he was up front with the pilot so he could see where he was going.
Sitting next to Geoff was terrifying. Anyone that knew Geoff knows that he was a very bad flyer and was only comfortable if he was up front with the pilot so he could see where he was going. Well when we took off Geoff was as white as a sheet and on one hand fingers almost piercing through the arm rest the other hand squeezing me so tight I was in pain and even more anxious. Once in the air Geoff was allowed to sit in the cockpit for most of the journey. When we were near to our destination Geoff came back with a big grin on his face and said “sorry mate”. He actually made me feel brave and not so anxious when flying.
Lorna M Boothe MBE, OLY. Performance Coach and Mentor
Geoff was more than a mentor—he was a true friend whose guidance, support, and genuine kindness touched everyone around him. His presence brought strength and encouragement, and his loss leaves a void that words can hardly fill.
Jamie Stevenson, athlete
My memory of Geoff is of him sitting in on presentation I did at one of the national coach development programme weekends. It was the first time I had met the great man and obviously Geoff was the headline act and would present after me. After my presentation (which was on athlete-coach interactions in competition) he was extremely complimentary, and he chatted about his time as an athlete and coach and what really helped him and those he supported during competition. I really appreciated his insight and time. I was a young pup of a coach and he made me feel welcome to the throws coaching community and appreciated for what I was trying to do. He always had lots of time for people and was ready with a supportive word and a hilarious story or two from his own experience.
Nick Ridgeon, England Athletics Event Group Lead – Throws
Extracts from Stuart Storey, Olympic hurdler and BBC Commentator. Storey was Geoff’s first coach and lifelong friend
Geoffrey Capes was in every sense larger than Life – he began his life journey Holbeach, a small town in Lincolnshire. That is where we met- we lived so close to each other. Geoff was a kid larger than most kids – he was a bit of a ruffian a tearaway – but for me he was a likeable Scoundrel. He began his strength training working on the land for his Dad (although he didn’t know it at the time) in an unsophisticated way; it took the form of day long loading lorries with heavy cwt bags of potatoes.
Geoff had very little to look forward to at that time – he was desperate for a way to be something and be someone. When I first saw him I thought surely he could throw he had the sheer size – it was apparent he had so much natural athleticism…we lived very much out in the sticks so we decided we would learn all about this shot event…Our early collaboration was very basic – a change in life style was needed and his attitude had to change and slowly but surely it did. We were able to spend a great deal of time together and we chose pragmatism as the way forward. We made throwing a positive focus and a way to set targets and to achieve them but we tried never to mention the word failure even if we fell short…
Geoff and I watched loads video footage of the worlds’ best time and time again, talked to other coaches and gradually enhanced our knowledge and he soon made his mark as a junior still realising there was much to do to be truly competitive. We just said it will take time and lots of it. COSFORD (Junior comp) it wasn’t all serious there were some fond memories for me – he was throwing 12 lb (5.5kg) shot at the time and was desperate to throw 50ft. At that meeting the judges gave him 49’ 11 ¾”…That was the point I realised that Geoff was a determined young man. The following week he threw 54feet (16.5.metres). Winning was becoming a habit…and he was enjoying his athletics.
His early strongman potential became evident when on route to an indoor meet my rear wheel punctured. He said don’t worry with the Jack – we’re running late – and he lifted the car while I changed the wheel. The looks on the faces of drivers passed by slowing down to believe what they were seeing.
In the70’s Geoff beat Sir Brendan Foster over 200m confirming the fact that he was quick. That was in Spalding in Lincolnshire – the fact that Geoff had enticed Bren into a pub pre-race probably had something to do with the outcome. COMMENTARY: Foster in lane 1. Capes lanes 2, 3 and 4. However Geoff’s time of around 23.5 was very good for a 21 stone man.
I had returned from representing Great Britain in the 1968 Olympics and Geoff was then determined to do the same. One Olympic athlete from Holbeach was not enough he proclaimed. He achieved far more than I did and I was so happy for him.