British strongman legend Geoff Capes left a huge £239,000 to his wife after dying at the age of 75, with his children and grandchildren receiving expensive goods and memorabilia as part of his will. Capes, who competed in the shot put at three Olympic Games, is widely considered to be Britain's best ever athlete in the discipline. He was also a two-time winner of the World's Strongest Man title, while his British shot put record still stands more than 40 years on.
His children Lewis and Emma both took up shot put themselves, with their father serving as coach. He also coached strongman competitors, including three-time UK's strongest man winner Adrian Smith. A popular figure both inside and outside the sporting world, Capes was the subject of plenty of tributes following his death in October 2024. Now, the generous gifts he left in his will have come to light.
According to The Sun, his estate has been held in a trust for second wife Kashmiro Batti. The pair wed in 2018, with his first marriage having ended in 1982. The same publication reports that children Lewis and Emma received expensive vases and a grandfather clock following the sporting legend's death. Capes' grandchildren Lawson and Donovan - also budding shot putters - have reportedly inherited his trophy and medal collection.
Capes never won an Olympic medal, but was successful elsewhere. He twice won Commonwealth Games gold in the shot put, and also took bronze at the 1974 European Championships in Rome. Share your memories of Geoff Capes in the comments section. Capes is understood to have signed his final will in 2021, with The Sun reporting that it was processed by the High Court last week. In one of his later interviews, the strongman spoke of how he was able to apply himself to get the better of stronger rivals.
“There were stronger people out there, I met a lot of them in the fens," he said. "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. They would call me ‘numbers’. If I went first, you’d see everyone copying. No matter what it was, I wanted to win.”.
He stuck to a 12,000 calories per day diet when training for World's Strongest Man, a title he won in 1983 and 1985. It included 2.7kg of red meat, 680g of cottage cheese and 450g of butter, and allowed him to lift 120 tonnes per week as part of his regime. Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
