Geoffrey Lewis Capes (born 23 August 1949) is a former athlete, strongman and professional Highland Games competitor. As an athlete he represented both England and Great Britain in field athletics, specialising in the shot put an event in which he was twice Commonwealth champion, twice European champion, and three time Olympian. As a strongman, he twice won the title of World's Strongest Man, was World Muscle Power champion on two occasions, and also had numerous other titles including Europe's Strongest Man and Britain's Strongest Man As a Highland Games competitor he was six times world champion, first winning the title in Lagos in 1981 and held world records in numerous events. Following retirement from competitive sport he continued to be involved in strength athletics as a referee, event promoter and coach. He also ran a sportswear retail shop and became renowned as a world-class breeder of birds. Capes stood 6 feet 5.5 inches (196.9 cm) and weighed 23 stone (150 kg) at his peak condition.
Capes was born in 1949 in Holbeach, 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. Of his older siblings, the elder two were Braithwaites and the middle four Cannons. He grew up in the town and went to the local secondary school, George Farmer. He became a member of Holbeach Athletic Club where he was coached by Stuart Storey. He was a gifted sportsman, and represented Lincolnshire at basketball, football and cross-country. In addition he was a decent sprinter, running 23.7sec for the 200m. Growing up on the Lincolnshire fens he had an early fascination with the natural world and cared for injured birds and animals from when he was a young boy. 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.
