OLYMPICS WEB GUIDES
OLYMPICS FEATURE ARTICLES
LATEST BEIJING OLYMPICS NEWS
Olympic Torch Tops Mount Everest Under Cloud of Controversy
by
findingDulcinea Staff
by Cara McDonough
China makes history as the Olympic torch reaches the world’s highest peak, but critics of China’s policies see no reason to celebrate.
China makes history as the Olympic torch reaches the world’s highest peak, but critics of China’s policies see no reason to celebrate.
30-Second Summary
The 19-member Everest torch team camped at 27,390 feet before dawn and reached the summit of the 29,035-foot mountain mid-morning on Thursday.
The Chinese government made sure to highlight ethnic unity even at the top of the world: the Everest team was comprised of both Han Chinese and Tibetan members and the final torchbearers were both Tibetans.
But despite China’s fanfare surrounding the historic event, critics—including one outspoken member of the climbing community—still point to the country’s human rights policies, especially regarding Tibet, as a major conflict underscoring this year’s Olympic Games.
“The fact that the Chinese government has been able to turn the highest mountain on Earth into a police state is unforgiveable,” says Luis Benitez, a climber who has scaled Everest six times. Benitez was going to climb Everest again this year but pulled out in protest of the China Olympic games.
Protests following this year’s torch relay and the Olympics in general are nothing new. Before the 85,000-mile relay even began, numerous demonstrations cast the event in an uncertain light. And protests followed the torch on its journey, disrupting the relay in Paris, where torch carriers had to finish their route on a bus.
Although some doubted that the protest-addled torch would ever make it up Everest, it reached the peak carried by a 19-member climbing team dressed in red parkas complete with the Olympic logo.
Watch live video of the torch reaching Everest’s peak from the Associated Press (narrative is in Chinese).
The Chinese government made sure to highlight ethnic unity even at the top of the world: the Everest team was comprised of both Han Chinese and Tibetan members and the final torchbearers were both Tibetans.
But despite China’s fanfare surrounding the historic event, critics—including one outspoken member of the climbing community—still point to the country’s human rights policies, especially regarding Tibet, as a major conflict underscoring this year’s Olympic Games.
“The fact that the Chinese government has been able to turn the highest mountain on Earth into a police state is unforgiveable,” says Luis Benitez, a climber who has scaled Everest six times. Benitez was going to climb Everest again this year but pulled out in protest of the China Olympic games.
Protests following this year’s torch relay and the Olympics in general are nothing new. Before the 85,000-mile relay even began, numerous demonstrations cast the event in an uncertain light. And protests followed the torch on its journey, disrupting the relay in Paris, where torch carriers had to finish their route on a bus.
Although some doubted that the protest-addled torch would ever make it up Everest, it reached the peak carried by a 19-member climbing team dressed in red parkas complete with the Olympic logo.
Watch live video of the torch reaching Everest’s peak from the Associated Press (narrative is in Chinese).
Headline Links: Olympic torch reaches Everest peak
Benitez says many climbers are afraid to speak out for fear they’ll be denied permits to climb, but he believes China has no right to commandeer the mountain for a “propaganda exercise.” China, meanwhile, hopes the spectacle of the flame on the world’s highest peak will erase the memory of prior protests, reports NPR. Wang Wei, spokesperson for the Olympic organizing committee, spoke of the expedition as “an expression of the Olympic spirit and of man’s will to challenge nature.”
Source: NPR
The Everest torch is separate from the main Olympic torch, which was not taken up the mountain due to weather delays. The specially designed torch that reached the peak was fueled by propane and burned brightly in the frigid, oxygen-thin Himalayan air using technology that keeps rocket motors burning in the upper atmosphere. The flame was carried most of the way up the mountain in a special metal canister and at the summit the team used a wand to pass the flame to the torch.
Source: ESPN
Background: Climbing preparation and prior protests
A total of 31 Chinese climbers, 22 of them ethnic Tibetans, prepared for the summit earlier this week by going over routes and campsites, following heavy snowfall over the weekend. China mountaineering team spokesman Zhang Zhijian would not disclose when the final ascent would take place, but did say the snow had been a minor setback to the operation.
Source: Times of India
Before the Olympic torch relay began, organizers said that conditions in Tibet would not impede the torch’s journey from Greece to Beijing. But protests cast uncertainty over the 85,000-mile relay.
Source: findingDulcinea
The Free Tibet Campaign describes the ongoing controversy surrounding China’s occupation of Tibet: “Free Tibet Campaign stands for the Tibetans’ right to determine their own future. It campaigns for an end to China’s occupation of Tibet and for the Tibetans’ fundamental human rights to be respected. Founded in 1987, Free Tibet Campaign generates active support by educating people about the situation in Tibet. It is independent of all governments and is funded by its members and supporters,” according to the mission statement on the Free Tibet Campaign Web site.
Source: Free Tibet Campaign
Protests stopped the Paris leg of the torch relay in early April, requiring Chinese officials to carry the torch the rest of the route on a bus. Days earlier, protests in London had disrupted the torch’s progress there, too.
Source: findingDulcinea
The Olympic torch eluded crowds of protesters in San Francisco April 9 after the relay route was moved to the city’s back streets. Organizers of future relay legs in New Delhi, India, and Jakarta, Indonesia, decided to take “special precautions,” according to Radio Free Europe. Nonetheless, Beijing and IOC President Rogge insisted that the relay will carry on as planned.
Source: Radio Free Europe
Reference: The 2008 torch relay and the Olympic Games
The official Web site of the Beijing 2008 Torch Relay charts the torch’s path and provides other information, such as torch relay history.
Source: The Official Web site of the Beijing Torch Relay
FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to the Olympics provides online resources for learning more about the Olympic Games, including a history of the event, tips for those who wish to attend the Olympics and lists and rules of Olympic sports.
Source: findingDulcinea
Most Recent Beyond The Headlines
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
