Jamaica has defended its refusal to back Sebastian Coe’s proposed constitutional changes at the International Associ-ation of Athletics Federa-tions (IAAF) Special Congress in Monte Carlo earlier this month, a decision criticised as being “ridiculous” by nine-time Olympic gold medallist, Usain Bolt.

The reforms, called Time for Change and aimed at changing how the IAAF operates following a major corruption scandal, were overwhelmingly passed at a Special Congress on December 3, 2016 after members voted 182 to 10 in favour.

Jamaica was among the countries who either voted against the proposals or abstained.

Ukraine, the home country of IAAF vice-president Sergey Bubka, was another notable nation not to support the motion.

The Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) claimed in a press statement signed by its general secretary Garth Gayle  that the reason they decided not to vote was because they were presented en masse as 15 proposals under one umbrella, which would be introduced at the start of 2017 and 2019.

“This in itself was unprecedented,” the JAAA said in their statement.

“We know of no other time in the 104-year history of the IAAF that Federations had to vote for a series of proposals as a unit.

“We would have preferred for the items to be separated, discussed and voted on individually.”

Particular concerns to the JAAA was the decision to alter the composition of the IAAF ruling Council to reflect gender balance and the proposal to remove the current age limit of 70 years old, which was only agreed in the 2015 constitution, without any discussion.

They were also against the proposal that IAAF committees would no longer be elected by the Congress but would instead be appointed.

The JAAA also claimed that the IAAF Council’s Executive Board would be drastically changed without full discussion among Member Federations.