World's Strongest Man Has Died

Geoff Capes, one of Britain's most famous athletes, was a man of many talents—he won the World's Strongest Man title twice, set a British shot-put record that remains to this day, won the Highland Games six times, and was a world-renowned budgie breeder. Capes, who has died at age 75, grew up lifting sacks of potatoes on a Lincolnshire farm, the Nottingham Post reports. He won the World's Strongest Man title in 1983 and 1985. His shot-put record, set in 1980, was just over 71 feet. He competed at the Olympics three times, finishing fifth in Moscow in 1980, his final appearance at the Games. Under British government policy, he had to quit his job as a policeman to compete in Moscow.

Tom Stoltman, the current World's Strongest Man, tells the Telegraph that Capes was an inspiration. "His feats will never be matched—to be elite level across so many strength sports—strongman, athletics and Highland Games—is mind blowing," he says. Sky Sports reports that Capes, president of the British Budgerigar Society from 2008, also won a world title for breeding budgies. The 6-foot-5 Capes became a celebrity in the 1980s and flipped a Volkswagen Polo in a famous ad in 1983. He coached shot-putters in his later years and two of his children became national champions.

• In 2003, Capes talked to the Guardian about his love of budgies. "It all began in 1969, when I was a policeman and went to deliver a warrant for non-payment of a fine," he said. "As I knocked on the recipient's door, I saw lots of cages in the front room, full of birds of an incredible array of colors. I was intrigued. I went in and had a cup of tea with the owner, and spent an hour talking to him about his hobby. It was a shame that at the end of it I had to tell him I was arresting him."
• "There were stronger people out there—I met a lot of them in the fens of Lincolnshire," Capes told the Telegraph last year. "But it was about the application of strength. Can you apply it at speed? Can you run with 400 pounds? I basically did that on a farm when I was a kid with sacks of potatoes. And I worked things out technically. No matter what it was, I wanted to win. I had my time. I enjoyed my life and I went around the world. How many people can say that?"

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