Geoffrey Lewis Capes (born 23 August 1949 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire) is a former British shot put champion, and former two-time winner of the World's Strongest Man title. Capes stood 6'5" and weighed 23 stones (325 lbs) at his peak condition.
Contents |
Early life
He was brought up in Holbeach, one of nine children, and went to the local secondary school, George Farmer's. He became a member of Holbeach Athletic Club where he was coached by Stuart Storey. After school he worked as a coalman and an agricultural labourer, being able to load twenty tons of potatoes in twenty minutes. He joined Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1970, and remained in the police for ten years.
Competitive participation
He represented his country many times over 11 years, winning two Commonwealth Games and two Indoor European Championship titles, and put the shot 21.68 metres (71 ft. 3.5 in.) to gain the British and Commonwealth record. He is probably Britain's best-known shot-putter. Geoff Capes is also the most capped British male athlete of all time, receiving 67 International caps, and returning 35 wins. Capes turned professional in 1980 and went on to win five World Highland Games titles and other British and European contests. His positive image continued to grow with his outstanding performances in the World's Strongest Man competition. He was particularly known for his incredible hand and arm strength, easily tearing London phone books in half and bending rolled steel bars measuring over 1 inch in diameter and three feet in length into pretzel shapes.
Life outside of sport
A persistent story about Capes is that in 1979, he stood in for friend and fellow strongman David Prowse to play the part of Darth Vader in several scenes during filming of The Empire Strikes Back while Prowse recovered from an elbow injury. During an interview on BBC Radio Cleveland on 31 January 2007, Capes was asked about this and he stated that it never happened. Geoff is a former member of the Air Training Corps. Geoff also appeared in the Tyne Tees Television programme Supergran. After retiring from strength athletics in 1987, Capes continued his involvement in the sport by training young athletes and acting as a referee at strength competitions in the UK. In 2007 he became the face of Cadbury's Wispa relaunch, appearing on bilboards and magazine advertisements. He now breeds budgerigars and has had much success on the show bench with his recessive pieds. In 2008 he will assume the role of president of the Budgerigar Society. He frequently appears in the pages of Cage & Aviary Birds.
World's Strongest Man results
- 1980 - 3rd
- 1981 - 2nd
- 1982 - 4th
- 1983 - 1st
- 1984 - 3rd
- 1985 - 1st
- 1986 - 2nd
External links
- Official website
- Big Shot (his autobiography)
- IMDb
- BBC article in 2001
- Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme about budgerigars
| World's Strongest Man | ||
| Preceded by: Bill Kazmaier |
First (1983) | Succeeded by: Jón Páll Sigmarsson |
| Preceded by: Jón Páll Sigmarsson |
Second (1985) | Succeeded by: Jón Páll Sigmarsson |
