China's plan to carry the Olympic flame up Mount Qomolongma to mark the
hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is on track, a top organizing
committee official said yesterday.
"We had a successful rehearsal in May to climb Mount Qomolongma. It will
start officially next May," said Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee
executive vice-president Jiang Xiaoyu, referring to the world's highest peak.
He was speaking at the opening of the second World Press Briefing attended by
more than 300 international journalists.
Jiang said the torch relay would still last 130 days beginning from March to
Aug. 8 next year, the day of the opening of the Games when the flame will be
carried into the National Stadium.
The torch relay, the longest in the Olympic history, will pass through 134
cities in China and abroad after the Taipei stop was canceled.
