Geoff Capes documentary to air over festive period

Channel 5 in the UK will show a celebration of the shot putter and strongman on December 30.

Channel 5 traditionally shows the World’s Strongest Man competition over the Christmas and new year period. But this time their series is being complemented by a programme about the only track and field athlete to win that strongman crown, Geoff Capes.

The documentary about Capes will be broadcast on December 30 from 8-9pm. The channel describes it as “a celebration of the life and legacy of one of Britain’s greatest athletes. Through memories from friends, family and fellow competitors, this portrait follows Geoff Capes’s rise from poverty on a Lincolnshire farm to national fame, earning Commonwealth golds, two World’s Strongest Man titles and six Highland Games victories.”

Capes died in October 2024 aged 75 after having featured in the pages of AW since he appeared in a Spotlight on Youth column as a 16-year-old alongside thrower-turned-boxer Joe Bugner in 1966.

During his career Capes won two European indoor shot put titles and two Commonwealth Games gold medals in addition to competing in three Olympic Games.

In all, he improved the British record from 19.56m to 21.68m – holding the mark from 1972 to 2003 – and competed for Britain a remarkable 67 times. At the height of his fame the shot circle at Crystal Palace was moved to the centre of the home straight so that he would be centre stage. A bona fide athletics icon, he would often start competitions with his tracksuit on and then take it off in the fourth or fifth round when “he meant business”.

Amazingly, Capes was the smallest of five brothers and in his early days ran a 4:48 mile and competed in cross-country. This running ability never left him during his throwing days either as, long before the Mondo Duplantis vs Karsten Warholm sprint clash, he beat Brendan Foster not once but twice in exhibition 200m races in firstly Gateshead then Spalding.

Coached by Stuart Storey, Capes learnt how to lift when working on the Lincolnshire farming fens alongside his father and eight siblings, before later combining a police career with his athletics and strongman triumphs.

During his lengthy career, 1974 was his best season when he won European indoor and Commonwealth titles and announced himself as a truly world-class thrower. His biggest ever throw, however, came in 1980 when he threw 21.68m in Cwmbran. He went to the Moscow Olympics that year aiming for a medal but a back injury thwarted his chances and he wound up fifth.

Outside athletics he was a six-time Highland Games champion and won the world’s strongest man title in 1983 and 1985.