Geoff CAPES

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Great Britain & N.I.

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Photo/Foto: George Herringshaw

Date: 19 July 1980

Click on image to enlarge

- DATE OF BIRTH
  Sunday, 21 August 1949
- PLACE OF BIRTH
  Holbeach, England. Died 23rd October 2024 aged 75.

INTERNATIONAL
Great Britain & N.I.
- Event(s)
  Shot Put, Discus
- Championship Performances
  Olympics: 1980 5th shot put, 1976 6th shot put.
  European: 1974 bronze Shot Put.
  European Indoors: 1974 & 1976 Gold shot put. 1975, 1977 & 1979 silver shot put.
  1978 Bronze shot put.
  Commonwealth: 1974 Gold Shot Put, 5th discus, 1978 Gold Shot Put.

Geoff CAPES - Great Britain & N.I. - Championship Record 1970-80 (Shot Put)

Geoff Capes personal best was 21.68m at Cwmbran on May 18th 1980.

Two months before the photo above, which is of him at the AAA Championships.

He best Indoors was 20.98m set in Los Angeles on 16th January 1976.

He died on Wednesday 23rd October 2024 aged 75.


Men's Shot Put Final Commonwealth Games 1970
1. Dave STEEN	CAN	19.21
2. Jeffrey TEALE	ENG	18.43
3. Les MILLS	NZL	18.40
4. Geoff CAPES	ENG	17.06
5. Brian CAULFIELD	CAN	16.83
6. Mike LINDSAY	SCO	16.77

Men's Shot Put Final European Athletics Championships 1974
1. Hartmut BRIESNICK	GDR	20.50
2. Ralf REICHENBACH	FRG	20.38
3. Geoff CAPES	GBR	20.21
4. Alexandr BARYSHNIKOV	URS	20.13
5. Valeri WOJKIN	URS	20.07
6. Vladislav KOMAR	TCH	19.82

Men's Shot Put Final Commonwealth Games 1974
1. Geoff CAPES	ENG	20.74
2. Mike WINCH	ENG	19.36
3. Bruno PIRNIE	CAN	18.68
4. Bill TANCRED	ENG	18.13
5. Robin TAIT	NZL	17.71
6. Ray RIGBY	AUS	16.98

Men's Shot Put Final Olympic Games 1976
1. Udo BEYER	GDR	21.05
2. Yevgeny MIRONOV	SOV	21.03
3. Aleksandr BARYSHNIKOV	SOV	21.00
4. Al FEUERBACH	USA	20.55
5. Hans-Pieter GIES	GDR	20.47
6. Geoff CAPES	GBR	20.36
7. George WOODS	USA	20.26
8. Hans HOGLUND	SWE	20.17

Men's Shot Put Commonwealth Games 1978
1. Geoff CAPES	ENG	19.77
2. Bruno PAULETTO	CAN	19.33
3. Bishop DOLEGIEWICZ	CAN	18.45
4. Mike MERCER	CAN	17.83
5. Mike WINCH	ENG	16.93
6. Bob DALE	ENG	16.89
7. Bahadur SINGH	IND	16.57
8. Jagraj SINGH	IND	16.50

Men's Shot Put Final Olympic Games 1980
1. Volodymyr KYSELYOV	SOV	21.35
2. Aleksandr BARYSHNIKOV	SOV	21.08
3. Udo BEYER	GDR	21.06
4. Reijo STAHLBERG	FIN	20.83
5. Geoff CAPES	GBR	20.50
6. Hans-Jurgen JACOBI	GDR	20.32
7. Jaromir VLK	CZE	20.24
8. Vladmir MILIC	YUG	20.07

Geoff Capes was one of the world's best shot putters for the best part of a decade but never quite managed to win the Olympic medal his distinguished career deserved. After setting age records in his mid-teens, Geoff threw the shot over 17m for the first time in 1968 and made his Great Britain senior debut, aged 19, the following year. He placed fourth at the 1970 Commonwealth Games (with a put of 17.06m), but did not break through as top class putter until 1971, when he improved his personal best from 17.73 to 19.48, a mark just short of the UK record of 19.56 (set by Arthur Rowe back in 1961). In April 1972, Capes equalled this record twice before smashing it in July with a put of 20.18 at a meeting in Helsinki, Finland. However, that year's Munich Olympics proved an anti-climax as he failed to make the final, managing only 18.94, a throw he later described as 'pitiful'.

In 1973, Geoff improved the Commonwealth record to 20.73, before raising it by a further cm when taking gold at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, in early 1974. He then won the European Indoor title, setting a new European indoor record (20.95), before reaching the landmark figure of 21.00 outdoors in June 1974. Later that summer, he claimed a bronze medal (20.21) at the European Championships in Rome and ended the season ranked No 3 in the world by the authoritative American magazine, Track and Field News. The following year, Capes won silver at the European Indoor Championships and managed a season's best of 20.80 outdoors, a mark that gave him a ranking of No 1 in the world. In 1976, he regained the European Indoor title, setting a new European indoor record (20.98) in the process, and extended the Commonwealth record to 21.55.

Hopes were high for the Olympic Games in Montreal but, after achieving the third-best mark in qualifying, he 'froze' (by his own admission) in the final and could only place 6th (20.36), a result that reduced Geoff to tears. He recovered to win three European Indoor medals in the late 1970s and gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games (19.77), before throwing a Commonwealth record of 21.68 in May 1980, his career-best mark and one that would last as a British record until 2003. Again, hopes were raised for a long-awaited Olympic medal but a back injury ruined his chances and he could only finish 5th (20.50) at the 1980 Games in Moscow. He retired from athletics at the end of that season. (Martin Greensill)