KATHMANDU: The unveiling of a plan this week by Beijing to do a rehearsal this Spring for next year’s Olympic torch relay atop Mount Everest, or ‘Qomolangma’ in Chinese, has Nepal’s sports and mountaineering authorities excited.
Chinese officials are planning to take a specially-designed Olympic torch to the summit of the 8,848-m high mountain from the southern slope on the Nepalese side, whereupon “specially-trained” mountaineers will descend down the Chinese side on their way to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Preparations have already started for the grand rehearsal during the oncoming Spring mountaineering season, said Bhumi Lama, an official with Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), which was contacted by the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA) recently.
“It will provide a great exposure opportunity to our Sherpas, as well as our high Himalayas,” he told DNA, adding that NMA was currently looking for sponsors to cover expenses on the Nepalese side all the while remaining in constant touch with the Chinese authorities.
Officials at the Nepal Olympic Committee and the National Sports Council, too, seem upbeat about the fact that Nepal’s sports officials and mountaineers will be joining hands with the Chinese in hoisting the Olympic torch atop Mount Everest. “We haven’t got official information yet,” he said, “but it will be huge thing for us.”
In close coordination with the Chinese mountaineers, Nepali authorities are planning to train a dozen or so highly-experienced Sherpas and dozens of local porters for the rehearsal this year and the actual torch relay via Nepal ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Officials with the Beijing Organising Committing for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) said in Beijing this week that the “specially-designed torch” would be tested on the mountain as part of the rehearsal coming Spring. When it happens, it will be the first time for the Olympic torch relay to pass through the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
The torch would be designed specifically so that it can burn at the high altitude, and that the rehearsal would be very important for a successful torch relay for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, they said. The Olympic torch is to be relayed to five continents, before it reaches Beijing.
