Geoffrey Lewis Humberg Capes JP (23 August 1949 – 23 October 2024) was a British shot putter, strongman, and Highland Games competitor.

He represented England and Great Britain in field athletics, specialising in the shot put, an event in which he was twice Commonwealth champion, twice European indoor champion, competed at three Olympic Games and holds the British record for the shot put since 1980, with a distance of 21.68 metres (71 ft 2 in). As a strongman, he won World's Strongest Man twice, and World Muscle Power Classic twice, along with several 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 the final title in 1987. Throughout his career, Capes set 17 world records.

Following retirement from competitive sport, he continued to be involved in strength athletics as a referee, coach, event promoter, sportswear retailer and became renowned as a world-class breeder of birds.

Capes was born on 23 August 1949 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, the seventh of nine children. He weighed 12.4 pounds (5.6 kg) at birth. He was the seventh child of Eileen (Alcock) Capes, though the eldest of her three children by her third husband Bill Capes. His father was a land worker, while his mother, who stood six feet tall and weighed 17 stone 12 pounds (114kg), was a matron at a care home. Of his older siblings, the elder two were Braithwaites and the middle four Cannons. Capes told The Daily Telegraph, "The family wasn't just working class, but was on the lowest rung of that very long ladder that is the English class system." He grew up in the town and went to the local secondary school, George Farmer. During his time at school, his behaviour and academic performance were reportedly poor, resulting in frequent caning. On one occasion, a teacher twisted his ear until it bled as punishment for misbehaving in class. The same day, Capes's mother confronted the teacher and punched him.

Capes described himself as a troubled youth and recalled that he was constantly fighting. "If the next town came down on a Friday and there were only eight or nine of them, I'd say, 'Go back and get some more'", he told The Daily Telegraph in 2023. "I'd fight them on my own. I was quite quiet but there was an inner aggression." Despite his natural inclination towards physical activities, Capes initially struggled to find success in sports. He faced a one-year ban from a local football team after striking a referee during a match. He left school at 14 to work as a labourer, carrying sacks of potatoes and taking on various odd jobs. At the age of 15, he loaded 20 tons of potatoes onto a lorry in under 20 minutes, just to demonstrate that it could be done. By 16, he had taken on the role of assistant coalman and odd-job worker for a haulier in Lincolnshire. During tea breaks at the haulier's yard, he developed his arm strength by lifting two four-stone weights overhead. He also created a makeshift gymnasium with two friends. During this time, he joined a local athletics club, where he met Stuart Storey, a hurdler who later competed in the 1968 Olympics.

Capes stated that Storey helped him turn his life around and guided him during his early days in athletics. Storey encouraged him to try shot put and participate in competitions. Lacking the means to buy proper clothes, Capes attended events wearing garments left behind by his mother's patients after they died. His first attempt at competitive shot-putting ended with him being placed second-to-last in the finals of the 1964 All England Schools Athletics Championships.

Capes was a gifted sportsman, and represented Lincolnshire at basketball, football and cross-country. In addition he was a decent sprinter, running 23.7 s for the 200 m. 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. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, uncle and older brothers, he joined Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1970, and remained in the police for ten years; his departure from the police came when he decided to compete in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, despite the British Government's calls for a boycott, and was thereby forced to resign his position.

Capes was a shot putter and represented his country over a span of 11 years, winning two Commonwealth Games and two Indoor European Championship titles. His first major competition was the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where he finished fourth. In the next two games in 1974 and 1978 he took the gold medal. In this period he also became the European Indoor Champion in both 1974 and 1976. His first Olympic experience was in 1972 when he competed in Munich. The 21-year-old Capes did not make it past the qualifying round, but improved on this considerably four years later. Having thrown a personal best of 21.55 metres (70 ft 8 in) on 28 May 1976 at Gateshead, he went into the 1976 Montreal Olympics as one of the favourites for the gold medal. He came second in his qualifying group but sixth overall in the final, the winner being Udo Beyer of East Germany. 1980 was the year Capes threw the longest distance of his career, 21.68 metres (71 ft 2 in) in Cwmbran on 18 May 1980 being a new Commonwealth and British record. He went into the Olympics as the athlete with the best distance that year and once again a favourite for the title. However, he eventually placed fifth, the winner being Vladimir Kiselyov whose Olympic record of 21.35 metres (70 ft 1 in) was well short of what Capes had achieved prior to the Games. Capes said his performance at the 1980 Moscow Olympics had left him "numbed with disappointment".