Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

Olympic torch raised on Everest's summit

By Tini Tran

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING --

Cheering mountaineers raised the Olympic torch at the top of the world's highest peak Thursday, in a triumphant image that China has longed for during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

The final ascent, broadcast live, was a dramatic counterpoint to the pro-Tibet protests during the torch's international relay.

"One World, One Dream," team captain Nyima Cering, a Tibetan, yelled in English as the torch was lit a few yards from the summit. The words are the slogan for the Beijing Olympics in August.

The 19-member team, dressed in red parkas emblazoned with Olympic logos, broke camp at 27,390 feet before dawn and reached the top of the 29,035-foot mountain a little more than six hours later.

The flame was passed up a line of five torchbearers to a Tibetan woman, Cering Wangmo, on the summit. The other team members unfurled Chinese and Olympic flags as a Tibetan prayer flag lined the path and fluttered in the wind.