Awesome: Olympic torch tops Everest

For once, will all those pesky pro-Tibetian independence activists and lobbyists just shut up and savour this proud moment, this feat of human endurance? Are they big enough for that?

The Olympic torch has reached the summit of Mount Everest. A 19-member team comprising ethnic Tibetans and Han Chinese, broke camp at 8,300 metres before dawn on 8 May 2008 and reached the top of the 8,850-metre mountain about six hours later, around 9.20am local time. The final torchbearer was a Tibetan woman named Cering Wangmo who stood silently on the peak with the torch while her team members unfurled Chinese and Olympic flags.

During the ascent, the Olympic flame was housed in a special metal canister. As the team neared the top, a wand was used to pass the flame, housed in a special canister, to the torch which was designed to withstand the frigid, oxygen-thin air. When the team reached the summit, five torchbearers could be heard struggling for breath as they passed the torch among themselves, each inching a few feet before passing the flame to the next person. "We have lit the torch on top of the world," one climber proclaimed. "We made it," they cheered.