Torch relay sponsorship disappoints some

As the Olympic torch relay heads west after three days looping around Calgary and area, some people say they have been overwhelmed with the corporate sponsorship associated with the torch run.

Big trucks representing sponsors Coca-Cola and RBC precede the person carrying the Olympic torch along the relay route.   Spectators are handed tambourines, flags and other trinkets emblazoned with corporate logos.

That's disappointing for some people who came out to watch the torch relay.

"It's kind of unfortunate they have to do that," said Andrea Richardson, as she watched the torch pass through her northwest Calgary neighborhood.   But the Coke logos won't influence her choice of beverage. "I drink Pepsi," she said with a laugh.

Other spectators say it's better that corporations pay for the relay instead of governments.

Corinne Kaminski said she didn't even notice the Coke logo on the banner she's waving.  "To me everything is just red and white, and what I see is Canada," she said.  

One of the people who helped carry the 2010 Olympic torch was former Olympic skier "Jungle" Jim Hunter, the man who also managed the 1988 Torch Relay.

"I think it's a corporate event.  I don't think it's a people event," he said of the 2010 relay.

"I'm not saying it was bad, I'm not saying it was horrible compared to '88. I think there is still a positive acknowledgment of an experience, but it's just not the same. The emphasis is not the same. The focus is not the same," Hunter said.   It was a far more personal experience in 1988, he said.