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Tibet Adds to Challenges Facing Olympic Torch Bearer
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Organizers say conditions in Tibet will not impede the torch’s journey from Greece to Beijing. But protests cast uncertainty over the 85,000-mile relay.
30-Second Summary
This year the Olympic torch relay faces an unusually difficult set of challenges.
Not only does the torch’s path cut through Tibet, where the flame’s keepers may come face to face with protesters, but the route also goes to the peak of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest.
“China sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and since then there have been periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings as resentment of Beijing's rule has persisted,” reports the BBC.
Pro-Tibet activists from the media rights group Reporters Without Borders interrupted the torch-lighting ceremony in Greece on Monday.
Despite the challenges, “China remains steadfast in its plan to take the Olympic torch to Tibet and Mount Everest,” the Beijing Olympics organizing committee said recently, according to the International Herald Tribune.
If all goes to plan, the torch’s 85,000-mile journey this year will make history.
Guarding the flame has always been a challenge, but a rewarding one, according to Mark Claussner, a former Olympic torch truck driver for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
"It was, besides the birth of my children, by far the best thing that I’ve ever done,” he said. “For that fleeting moment, to just see the people excited, and you’re bringing that to the people, and that was really a gift that they allowed me to do that.”
Not only does the torch’s path cut through Tibet, where the flame’s keepers may come face to face with protesters, but the route also goes to the peak of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest.
“China sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and since then there have been periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings as resentment of Beijing's rule has persisted,” reports the BBC.
Pro-Tibet activists from the media rights group Reporters Without Borders interrupted the torch-lighting ceremony in Greece on Monday.
Despite the challenges, “China remains steadfast in its plan to take the Olympic torch to Tibet and Mount Everest,” the Beijing Olympics organizing committee said recently, according to the International Herald Tribune.
If all goes to plan, the torch’s 85,000-mile journey this year will make history.
Guarding the flame has always been a challenge, but a rewarding one, according to Mark Claussner, a former Olympic torch truck driver for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
"It was, besides the birth of my children, by far the best thing that I’ve ever done,” he said. “For that fleeting moment, to just see the people excited, and you’re bringing that to the people, and that was really a gift that they allowed me to do that.”
Headline Links: Tibetan protests
After a global tour of 135 cities, the Olympic torch will reach the top of Mount Everest sometime in May, when weather conditions will make the trek as safe as possible, reports the International Herald Tribune. But after torch carriers scale the world’s highest peak, the torch caravan could meet even greater adversity in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the site of recent deadly riots.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Although China has said the torch relay through Tibet, including scaling Mount Everest, will go ahead as planned, “climbers hoping to scale Mount Everest are uncertain of being allowed near the peak this season, with the north side in Tibet closed and Nepal expected to also impose restrictions, mountaineers said Wednesday,” reports AFP. In addition, China has banned foreigners from visiting Tibet following the recent wave of protests.
Source: AFP
Related Topics: Carrying the torch and the opening ceremonies
Mark Claussner said that during his 3,000-mile trip around the United States, the three-foot flame was carried in the back of the official torch truck so that people could see it. If there was a “flame out,” the torch had to be relit using the original “mother flame” from Greece, which was carried in cauldrons. At night, each flame was kept with a security guard in a hotel room. Claussner described the experience of sleeping next to a burning flame as “something that I’m very proud of,” but something “I’m not looking forward to doing again because the room smelled, and I’m used to having a dark room.”
Source: NPR
China is pushing for its army to oversee the Australian leg of the Olympic torch relay to make sure protests do not ruin the event. “The move, which has been rebuffed by the Australian Federal Police, comes as Beijing reels from an embarrassing relay launch in Athens when human rights activists hijacked the event,” writes the Australian branch of News.com.
Source: News.com
Newsweek was given access to the rehearsal for the opening of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and discovered how much work goes into keeping the opening ceremonies a secret, as well as pulling off such a complicated show. “Love them or hate them, the opening ceremonies are a carefully choreographed piece of political theater that sets the mood for the Games and serves as a global infomercial for the host country,” according to the story, which recounts some of the most memorable moments, including Muhammad Ali’s shaky lighting of the Olympic flame at the opening ceremonies in Atlanta in 1996.
Source: Newsweek
Analysis: ‘China Struggles to Shine in Olympic Spotlight’
NPR commentator Frank Deford says that there is no guarantee that the pollution and human rights issues in China will be cleared up by the Olympics kickoff in August. “It isn't, either, that these problems have snuck up on the International Olympic Committee. Pollution and human rights were foremost in the conversation way back in 1993, when the IOC came within a hairsbreadth of awarding the 2000 Olympic Games to Beijing,” he says.
Source: NPR
Video: 'Olympic Torch Still Going to Tibet'
Reuters provides a video news story on China’s decision to take the torch through Tibet, despite facing violent protests there. "These kind of disruptive protests are in fact a challenge to the Olympic charter, and a challenge to all Olympic fans. They are also a challenge to the progress of peace in the world. I believe that these kind of activities will not win the hearts of the people, and will certainly fail," said the executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympics.
Source: Reuters
Background: Olympic protests begin in earnest
Pro-Tibet activists have already begun their protest efforts. Three men broke into the ceremony venue as Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee, gave a speech at the torch lighting. "We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol of peace, without denouncing the dramatic human rights situation in the country," Reporters Without Frontiers, a media watchdog group based in France, said in a statement.
Source: The BBC
The Olympic torch is coming to San Francisco in April, and protests over human rights conditions in Tibet have already begun. Demonstrators want the local torch celebration cancelled, as seen in video footage from local news station KGO. "We already know the Chinese are killing Tibetans, innocent nuns and monks, as we are speaking right now," said Tenzin Dasang from the San Francisco Tibetan Youth Congress.
Source: KGO
“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
Reference: The 2008 torch and Mount Everest
The official website of the Beijing 2008 Torch Relay charts the torch’s path and provides other information, such as torch relay history. The flame was lit this year on March 24 in Olympia, Greece, the Olympic birthplace, by the high priestess, who successfully lit the sacred flame in a traditional ritual, using only the rays of the sun and a parabolic mirror.
Source: The Official Web site of the Beijing Torch Relay
MountEverest.net, a site maintained by climbers, provides information on Mount Everest including weather, latest news, tips for a successful climb and profiles of the mountain region's inhabitants.
Source: MountEverest.net
The Official Web site of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games includes fact sheets, athlete profiles, cultural information and news.
Source: The Official Web site of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
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