BEIJING, August 6 (AFP): The Olympic flame was cheered through Beijing by flag-waving crowds Wednesday as excitement built two days before the Games, but a dramatic Tibet protest and pollution worries clouded the final run-up.
Tens of thousands of Beijing residents gathered in historic Tiananmen Square as the torch completed an epic journey to bring the Olympic flame to the Chinese capital ahead of Friday's opening ceremony.
Protests dogged the torch's odyssey through Europe, the United States and parts of Asia, while May's huge earthquake in Sichuan province overshadowed the Chinese leg, but there was genuine excitement on the streets of Beijing.
"I feel very excited and very proud because the Olympic Games is a 100-year dream of China's," said 60-year-old Jiang Rong, as astronaut Yang Liwei and basketball star Yao Ming helped open the final leg.
China has painted the Games as a celebration of three decades of economic reforms aimed at showcasing a rapidly modernising country, but it has been unable to shake off controversies and public relations problems.
In the latest challenge, four activists from Students for a Free Tibet staged a dare-devil protest near the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium by climbing up an electricity pole and unfurling two huge banners.
The banners, which read "One World, One Dream: Free Tibet" and "Tibet Will Be Free", were up for an hour before police ripped them down and detained the protesters, two Americans and two Britons, the group told AFP.
"We did this action today to highlight the Chinese government's use of the Beijing Olympics as a propaganda tool," one of the British protestors, Iain Thom, said in a message on the group's website.
Activists seeking to pressure China have vowed to use the Games to raise awareness of their causes, which include the nation's rule of Tibet, arrests of dissidents, Internet censorship and gripes about Chinese foreign policy.
China has also said that Islamic militants from northwest China are seeking to stage terrorist attacks on the Games, and it has deployed blanket security around the Olympic Village in an attempt to head off trouble.
In a sign of nervousness ahead of Friday's opening, the authorities reportedly cancelled the visa of a leading campaigner against Chinese policy towards the troubled Darfur region of Sudan.
Joey Cheek, a US Winter Olympics gold medallist and campaigner for an end to violence in Darfur, had his visa revoked 24 hours before he was due to leave for the country, activist group Team Darfur said.
Pollution remains another headache for the organisers, but even though a blanket of smog hung over the city on Wednesday the authorities insisted they had no plans to invoke extra emergency measures to improve air quality.
"The conditions are not unfavourable at the moment and my understanding is that we are not going to be taking any extra measures," said Sun Weide, Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman.
The authorities have removed one million of the city's 3.3 million cars from the roads and shut down more than 100 polluting factories and building sites in an attempt to clear the city's notorious smog.
While some athletes have complained about pollution and even worn masks to protect their lungs, the International Olympic Committee has said it is happy with the air quality levels.
Despite the controversies, the organisers have reassured the 10,000 athletes and 500,000 other expected foreign visitors the event would not only be safe, but that everything was in place to ensure a successful event.
The first sporting competition of the Games was due to take place Wednesday -- two women's football matches -- and the final touches were being put to what is expected to be a spectacular opening ceremony at the "Bird's Nest" stadium on Friday choreographed by acclaimed film director Zhang Yimou.
