19th August 2008

Great Britain’s athletics team enjoyed a successful three-out-of-three session at the Bird’s Nest on Tuesday morning (August 19), with Emily Freeman, Jade Johnson and Goldie Sayers all progressing to the next stage of their respective competitions.

Johnson left it late, but her third and final jump of 6.61m was enough to see her through to Friday’s (August 22) final. Leading the way was Brittney Reese of the USA, who jumped 6.87m.

"I’m not very happy with that," she said. "I’m happy I made it to the final, but I made it the long way round. There you go."

"It really all comes down to trusting what you do in training. Everyone at home believes in me, and I believe in myself. I took a deep breath and got it (her final jump)."  

Sayers is also through to the final, in the javelin, her second throw of 62.99m enough to place her in the leading group for Thursday’s (August 21) medal competition. 

"I was kind of hoping not to take two throws," she said. "It wasn’t a great first round, but in training I’ve been doing a lot of practice comps so I was ready.

"Thursday’s another day. It’s kind of irrelevant looking at the qualifying results because they will probably get turned on their head.

"I think 64 or 65m could make a medal, or it could be a bit further, we’ll just have to wait and see."

In the women’s 200m, Emily Freeman posted a time of 22.95 in her heat to progress to round two on Tuesday evening (from 19:00). Her time makes her the seventh quickest to go through.

"It’s a relief to get that first one out the way," she said. "It was nerve-wracking. I’ve not raced for a while so it was good to see where I am at.

"Obviously I’ve got goals. I want to get a personal best and see where it takes me."

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