Usain Bolt fought to keep baton from world-record relay; officials finally relent

Usain Bolt tried to keep the baton from Jamaica's world record-setting performance in the 4x100 relay on Saturday night in London, but humorless British track officials made him return the potential souvenir.

Jamaica broke its own record in its gold-medal win, with Bolt anchoring the relay with a blistering 9.22 leg from a near standing start. Yohan Blake, the 100- and 200-meter silver medalist, gave Bolt a huge lead with a dominant third leg that moved the team past Tyson Gay and the United States.

[ Video: Bolt blasts into history ]

Bolt ran through the finish line -- a rarity for him -- and blew past the British official tasked with the unenviable job of collecting the relay batons from runners. As shown above, she reached out her hand and Bolt playfully snatched the baton into his chest.

Every relay competitor has had to give up their baton at the end of the race.

He managed to hold on to it in the immediate aftermath of the race. While he and Blake went to the stands to celebrate with the Jamaicans and grab the flags they'd carry in their victory lap, the baton was close by his side.

A few moments later, British officials converged and successfully got the baton back from a resistant Bolt. But officials must have had second thoughts because Bolt later confirmed that they allowed him to keep the baton.

Usain Bolt just won his sixth gold medal in six races of his Olympic career. It could be the last race of his career at the Summer Games (though we doubt it). We know the IOC never likes to make exceptions, but this was an easy one for it to look the other way.

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