体坛英语新闻：Olympic torch climbers to start last spurt to peak of Qomolangma on Thursday

QOMOLANGMA, Tibet, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese mountaineers on a mission to carry the Olympic flame over the top of Mount Qomolangma will start their last spurt to the world's highest peak on Thursday, said Shao Shiwei, an official with the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG) on Wednesday night.

    "The headquarters at the Base Camp made the decision on the basis of the weather conditions and the climbers' physical conditions," said Shao, deputy director of the communications department of the BOCOG.

    "The route and all the camps along the way up have been finished, the climbers are all in good shape and they will choose proper timing tomorrow to ascend the mountain and carry the Olympic flame over it," added Shao.

This picture taken on May 7, 2008 shows tents at the Attack Camp of Mt. Qomolangma, at the altitude of 8,300 meters in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Chinese mountaineers will carry the Beijing Olympic flame to the top of Mt. Qomolangma on May 8, an official of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee announed at the Base Camp of Mt. Qomolangma on May 7.

    Beijing promised in its bidding reports seven years ago that the sacred flame of the Olympics would reach the snow-covered peak. It will be the first time for the Olympic torch relay to be held on the 8844.43-meter mountain.

    The Olympic flame's first trip atop the mountain which spans Nepal and southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region will also be televised live.

    Shao on Wednesday night also announced the 19-member squad who will take on the final assault, one short-listed from the 36-strong team announced one day earlier.

    According to Zhang Zhijian, spokesman of the Chinese Mountaineering Team, the last-minute torch bearers need to be physically and mentally strong.

    Shao said the 19 climbers will fall into starters and backup group, with 12 and 7 in each.

    The starters, headed by Nima Ciren, principal of the Lhasa Mountaineering Guide School, include 8 ethnic Tibetans, 3 Han Chinese and one from ethnic Tu.

    The Beijing Olympics torch relay is the longest and most ambitious ever planned, traveling 137,000 kilometers across five continents in 130 days. The torch has returned to the Chinese mainland at the beginning of May and is scheduled to tour Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province on May 8.

    But as the side relay progress on Qomolangma, the main relay will take a day off.

    The Olympic flame was lit in Greece on March 24 and before kicking off its global tour the flame has been split, with part o fit brought to Mt. Qomolangma for the high-profile summit ceremony.