Posted on 05/26/2005 5:57:55 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Thu 26 May, 9:42 AM
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has high hopes for the 2008 Olympic Games -- 8,850 metres (29,035 ft) high, to be exact.
Beijing is investigating how to haul the Olympic torch to the peak of Mount Everest and broadcast the event live during the pre-Games torch relay, a senior Olympics official said on Thursday.
"We have organised a research team and they are assessing it," said Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games, told Reuters.
"It depends on the weather at the time and on when it will happen," said Liu, who is also vice mayor of Beijing. China was scheduled to submit a route plan for the relay to the International Olympic Committee by the end of 2006.
The relay of the "flame of peace" has become a spectacle. Ahead of the Athens games in 2004, it circled the world on a six-week tour under tight security, flying from country to country in a specially chartered jumbo jet, dubbed Zeus.
Logistically, taking the flame to the highest point on Earth is not a big problem, he said.
"Going up may not be too complicated, but filming the whole thing will be very complex," he added.
In 1999, China took a ceremonial flame to the top of Everest, which straddles the China-Nepal border, during a sports competition among China's ethnic minorities.
That torch was outfitted with a special oxygen tank to keep it burning in the thin air and an igniter to re-light the flame when gusting winds blew it out, but the experience showed it could be done.
"The torch is not a problem," Liu said.
Broadcasting the images live is another story, though.
TRAVEL ON YAKBACK
In 2003, China's state-run broadcaster showed live footage of climbers reaching the peak using a portable microwave transmitter to send a signal to a satellite ground station.
The cost of transporting the gear up just the middle reaches on yaks was 200,000 yuan, Xinhua news agency reported.
Liu said no decision had yet been made about who would carry the torch up the mountain, but he noted that most torch bearers in the past had been local.
"Not everyone can climb Everest," he added.
"In Nepal there is an ethnic group for whom climbing Mount Everest is as easy as eating breakfast. Maybe we'll go up with them."
Liu added that China also hoped the flame could pass through rival Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province of China to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
"We hope it goes there," he said. "Taipei has given Beijing a lot of support in our application for and preparations for the Olympics, so of course we can enjoy this honour with the Taiwanese people."
Taiwan competes separately from China under the name Chinese Taipei.
Beijing's original plan for the torch relay was a "New Silk Road" concept, bringing it from Athens to China via Rome, the Arab world and South Asia, Liu said.
But instability in some areas may be a limitation.
"As you know, there are also some places along that route that are not so safe. How could we carry the torch in an armoured vehicle?" he said.
Ping!
Eurocopter has a helocopter that could just fly the torch to the summit. It's easy.
"There are, however, numerous small ethnic groups whom the Chinese government considers expendable."
?????.. I doubt even the Chinese would expend them on live TV. Wouldn't be good public relations at all.
Ping to this...
I agree. Chinese regime never fail to make a political point.
Maybe they can enlist a group of Maoist rebels to temporarily shelve their terrorist attacks and instead carry the torch to the top of Everest...
I'm sorry. I'm new here. Can you please tell me about 'pinging?'
Isn't re-lighting it basically defeating the whole point?
I don't know. But I do know that Tibetan monks create sand mandelas with tiny grains of sand in many colors using straws...and then it is to be dispersed to the wind. Something about carrying the prayers that are chanted over it while they create it. They preserved one for the museum of art in San Antonio. It'c totally not the purpose in having constructed it.
With the whole world watching, I doubt an attempt at the summit would be made if conditions were less than ideal. Even if there was no window for a summit push, it would still be neat to follow the torch as far as it could go up the mountain.
Awesome! I hope this effort succeeds and is seen as it really should be, a human triumph, instead of being unjustly labeled as a political tool.
Also, "HEY !! Over Here !! " ;o)
Actually, I did not post that. However, I see your point and I agree with you.
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