THE OLYMPIC flame has reached the top of the world. Live television footage showed a Chinese mountaineering team holding up a specially designed torch along with Chinese and Olympic flags yesterday on the top of Mount Everest.

"One World, One Dream," team captain Nyima Cering yelled as his torch was lit on the final icy incline leading to the peak, repeating the slogan for the Beijing Olympics. "We have lit the torch on top of the world," another climber said.

Spectacular feat

The 19-member team, dressed in red parkas emblazoned with Olym-pic logos, broke camp at 8,300 metres (27,390 feet) before dawn and reached the top of the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) mountain a little more than six hours later.

The climb up the world's highest peak was a spectacular feat that organisers of the Beijing Olympics hoped would under-score China's ambitions for this August's Games.

But the climb had been criticised from the outset because of China's often harsh rule over Tibet - where Everest is located - and the relay drew even more intense scrutiny after Tibetans across western China erupted in anti-government protests in March.

Counter damage

Organisers hope the dramatic image of the torch atop Everest will counter some of the dama-ging publicity from protests that marred the interna-tional leg of the torch relay.

The Olympic flame had been carried up to the world's tallest peak in a special metal canister.

As the team neared the summit, it used a wand to pass the flame from the canister to the torch, which had been designed to withstand the frigid, windy, oxygen-thin Himalayan air.

The climbers could be heard struggling for breath as five torchbearers each inched a few metres before passing on the flame to the next person.

A colourful Tibetan prayer flag lined the path and fluttered in the wind.