"Long live Beijing!" and "Long live Tibet!" climbers shouted after they reached the peak.(Getty Images)(ATR) The Olympic flame reached the summit of Mt. Everest as a television camera broadcast the feat live in a triumph for Games organizers.
Mountaineer Tsering Wangmo received the Olympic torch just meters below the Everest peak near 10 a.m. She trekked the last few steps to the peak, bringing the specially-designed torch to the 8,844-meter summit.
A camera from CCTV was on hand among the dozen climbers who made the final push to the peak.
Both the state television network and news agency Xinhua provided breathless coverage of the relay, with updates as the climbers left camp, reached milestones on the way, lit the torch from a lantern and made the final push to the top. Videos are available online.
Chinese vice president Xi Jinping sent a note to the mountaineers after the relay. Climbers lefttheir last base camp long before sunrise for a nearly eight-hour trek. (Getty Images)
"This is one of the greatest events in the history of Olympic Games and a precious gift given by the Chinese to the Olympics and people worldwide," the note reads.
The entire team of 19 climbers stayed near the top of the mountain for about an hour, according to Chinese media reports. China is keeping tight control over information around the relay. Only a handful of foreign reporters were allowed into Tibet for the climb, and those are sequestered at an Everest base camp.
After the ascent, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao conveyed his thanks to the government of Nepal for closing its side of the mountain during the relay. Wen conveyed his remarks through an ambassador in Kathmandu.
But the fanfare of bringing a flame to the roof of the world on live television is little else but propaganda, according to some China critics. Beijing pedestrians stop to watch the Everest ascent. (Getty Images)
"China has made Tibet a central theme of its Olympics propaganda exercise. By taking the torch up the Tibetan side of Everest during the domestic Chinese leg of the torch relay, China is clearly attempting to underscore its baseless claims to sovereignty over Tibet," says Matt Whitticase, a spokesman for the Free Tibet Campaign.
People inside Tibet report increasing tensions and forced participation in Chinese patriotic activities ahead of the relay there in June, Whitticase also says.
His organization is leading a campaign to pressure sponsors to cancel the torch relay through Tibet. He claims Chinese security forces will clamp down in the region ahead of the relay.
A spokesman for Tibet's government in exile criticized the Everest climb.
"During these times when the situation in Tibet is very grave and grim we felt it is very provocative to take the Olympic torch to the Tibetan side of the mountain," Thubten Samphel tells Reuters.
But only time will tell if the Beijing Games were a prop or an inspiration, says sportswriter Christopher Clarey in an editorial for the International Herald Tribune.
The Dalai Lama himself has said that the people of China -- the most populous nation on earth -- deserve to enjoy the Games. Spectators gather on the torch relay route through Shenzhen on May 8. (Xinhua)
The main torch relay winding through the Chinese mainland paused during the Everest hike. Relay organizers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, delayed the start of the relay until noon. The six-hour relay involved more than 200 torchbearers and a route of more than 40 km.
Written by Maggie Lee
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