Omission of Mills shocks gold medal favourite

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33435, 17 January 1974, Page 26

Omission of Mills shocks gold medal favourite

The omission of the veteran shot putter, Les Mills, from the New Zealand Commonwealth (James team was yesterday described as “sick and unbelievable” by the gold-medal favourite in this event, 24-ycar-old Geoff Capes, of England.

“I just cannot believe it. He lives here and yet he has been left out,” Capes said.

"Okay, he is injured. But he can still throw 59-60 ft. He has done enough for New Zealand to warrant a place on tihis alone.” When it was considered that there were competitors from some other countries who would put the shot only 39ft, Mills’s omission was “incredible.” Time to change Capes refused to believe that the point of no return had been reached. “The selectors still have time to include him.’’ He considers that New Zealand will be missing out on a possible medal prospect if Mills is not in the team. With such throwers as Bruce Pimie (Canada), Robin Tait (New Zealand) and Bill Tancred (England), he would have had a chance of winning the bronze medal. The 22-stone English policeman has vivid memories

of past clashes with the former New Zealand champion. "He beat me in the British championship in 1970. I will never forget that. He threw 63ft 9in and I did 61ft.”

70ft in prospect A jovial, bearded giant standing 6ft s|in, Capes appears to be a certain winner of the shot put after his tremendous training throw of 69ft 7in at flam earlier this week — 2ft better than his Commonwealth record. A put of 70ft appears to be a distinct possibility in the Games. He regards his fellow countryman, Mike Winch, as his chief rival for the title. “I don’t like him and he doesn’t like me, but we kind of make up before a competition and wish each other luck.’’ Winch has a best performance of 65ft.

But Capes is not taking any competitors lightly: “I am ahead at the moment but it could be very different on the day. I respect all the throwers.”

Indoor training In England, much of Capes’s training had been indoors With a plastic 161 b shot. The length of the gymnasium is only 63ft and he has put graduated marks on the wall to indicate just how far the shot would have gone had the wall not been there. “When the East Germans came over recently and saw this, they couldn’t believe it,” he added. An important part of his preparation is weight training although, unlike most other shot putters, he does not employ the Olympic lifts. He concentrates on strength lifts. He considefs that he has "in-built” strength, the result of coming from a farming background. When he was only six years old, he was lifting Bst sacks of wheat. Other facets of his training include jogging three miles once a'week and a lot of 30m sprints out of the blocks, chiefly to improve explosive strength. In spite of his size, he is no mean sprinter. He has best times of 7.lsec for 60m and 10.3 sec for 100 yd. Originally, he was a 100 m

and relay sprinter and also competed seriously over 800 m. He got his introduction to shot putting while at school when he was 11 years old. Then, at his first attempt, he threw the 61b shot 37ft. He went on to set a string of British age records. At 16, he recorded 48ft 6in with the 161 b shot, at 17 he had improved to 52ft 9in. at 18 his best was 55ft sin, and at 19 he was putting 58ft 9in. His first major competition was in the all England schools championship in 1964. He finished last but this failed to deter him and he made rapid improvement. In one season alone, he improved his performance by 23ft. Capes has also played soccer at county level and basketball, and has competed in wrestling. “You name it and I have done it,” he said.