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Johnson: Left it late
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Sayers: Fifth-best qualifier
"You start having the doubts and then you kind of panic and go through every single emotion you can possibly think of."
Jade Johnson
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British duo Jade Johnson and Goldie Sayers both qualified for their respective finals at the Bird's Nest on Tuesday morning.
Johnson left it late to qualify in the long jump but leapt out to 6.61m with her third and final attempt to finish inside the top 12.
She was way down the standings after jumps of 6.33m and 6.15m and despite doing just enough, the 28-year-old was not happy with herself.
"Maybe tomorrow I might be happy. I'm in the final but right now I'm still a bit mad with myself,'' she said.
"I always make hard work of it. When have I ever had an easy ride? Never. Once I just accept that I'm never going to have an easy ride I'll be fine.
"But I think I've done the work, I've trained really well, I'm in great shape, it'll be easy this time and it never is. As long as I get that into my head I'm sure I'll be all right.
Panic
"I believed I could do it on the first jump but then you start having the doubts and then you kind of panic and go through every single emotion you can possibly think of.
"All it comes down to is trusting what you've been doing every single day in training. That's what my coach told me and I just had to believe in myself and trust it and then take a big breath, slow everything down and then I got it.
"I felt like I was running about 2mph down the runway but that's how it goes. I hit the sand, got out and my heart was in my throat.''
In contrast, Sayers qualified comfortably. She needed just two throws to book her place in the javelin final, sending the spear out to 62.99m in round two - well clear of the 61.50m automatic qualifying mark.
She was the fifth best qualifier for Thursday night's final. Czech Barbora Spotakova led the way with 67.69m.
Sayers said: "I was hoping not to need two throws because there were so many people in the pool. But I had a bit of food poisoning last week at our training camp in Macau and nerves mixed with food poisoning in an Olympic qualifying round doesn't make for very good stomach cramps.
"I was struggling a bit and it wasn't a great first round but I'm pleased to be through.''
Medal
Asked about her prospects in the final, the 26-year-old from Newmarket added: "I'm just looking to perform to the best of my ability so I can walk off the track like I have done today and be satisfied with what I've done.
"I think 64 or 65 metres could make a medal and I'm capable of that so I'm looking to throw as far as I possibly can and if I can walk away with a medal I'll be ecstatic.
"In training I've been throwing a lot further and I'm in a lot better condition this year so I can recover from competitions very well and I've been lucky enough to have no injuries.
"The only little blip was that food poisoning but I think in some ways that's helped because each day since I've felt better and better and hopefully by Thursday I won't have the cramps any more.
"I'm trying to create momentum rather than coming out all guns blazing in the early season and then dropping away.''
There was a let-off for Cuba's defending champion Osleidys Menendez. She failed to get the automatic mark but went through in 11th place with a best effort of just 60.51m.
However, Portugal's Naide Gomes wasn't so lucky in the long jump.
One of the favourites for gold, Gomes opened with two fouls and could then manage just 6.29m with her final jump.
American Brittney Reese led the qualifiers for Friday's final with a best of 6.87m. She was joined in the final by Sweden's Carolina Kluft, the 2004 heptathlon champion who opted to miss this year's multi-event discipline to concentrate on this event. She leapt out to 6.70m.
