Olympic torch ready to Mt. Qomolangma

Resting places had been built for the mountaineers who will undertake the mission of the 2008 Olympic torch relay on the Mt. Qomolangma by May 30, 2007.

BEIJING, Oct. 18 - China's top sports official said on Wednesday the Olympic torch is ready to be relayed to Mount Qomolangma, the world's tallest peak. "We're fully prepared for that," head of the General Administration of Sport Liu Peng said during the ongoing 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). He said China had solemnly promised the world it would relay the torch to Mount Qomolangma upon its application to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. "We will live up to the commitment." Liu said he sees no problem for Chinese mountaineers to scale the world's summit for the torch relay. Chinese athletes have advantages in mountaineering, a sport that has more than 40 years of history in China, he said. "Many Chinese athletes, men and women, have climbed up the mount. Some reached the peak more than once." The Tibetan mountaineering team have so far mounted all the world's 14 mountains exceeding 8,000 meters tall, Liu told journalists at a briefing. He said Chinese scientists have made technological advancements to protect the Olympic flame from low temperature, low oxygen, low pressure and strong gales. "We've also solved technological difficulties to ensure TV signal relays on the plateau." A Chinese survey in 2005 found Mount Qomolangma, known to westerners as Mount Everest, stands 8844.43 meters above sea level. It straddles the border between China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Nepal.