Beijing: Chinese and Tibetan climbers carried the Olympic flame to the summit of the Mount Everest today in a nationalistic emotional feat for China and a crowning glory for the Beijing Olympics torch relay troubled by protests.
Mountaineers comprising ethnic Tibetans and Han Chinese, dressed in red parkas emblazoned with Olympic logos, lit the torch about 100 metres away from the world's highest peak and carried it to the summit after a six-minute relay.
An ethnic female Tibetan, Tsering Wangmo took the torch to the peak at 8,844.43 metres and stood silently as other members unfurled the Chinese national flag, the Olympics flag and the flag with the Beijing Olympic logo and joyously shouted, "We made it", and "Beijing welcomes you".
"One World, One Dream", yelled Nyima Cering, captain of the 12-member "Attack Team", repeating the Beijing Olympics slogan when he received the torch. Braving gusty winds and freezing wind chill, the 19-member squad took nearly six hours for the most ambitious ascent after setting off for the final assault from their camp located 8,300 metres above sea level around 1.30 am, official Xinhua news agency said.
The ascent to the peak of Mt Everest, called Qomolangma in China, was billed as the highpoint of the Beijing Olympics torch relay that has had raucous run globally right from day one when started from Olympiad in Greece.
The torch on which China invested much prestige was disrupted in London and Paris and played a hide and seek game in San Francisco, while it was paraded through several other cities under thick security cover.
