JASON McKay, head of Jamaica’s contingent to last weekend’s annual International Sports Karate Association’s US Open World Martial Arts Championships in Orlando, Florida, has hailed their record-breaking gold medal tally as an “unbelievable” feat.

Jamaica won a record 34 gold medals, eclipsing last year’s mark of 33 gold, despite travelling with a smaller delegation than last year.

The Jamaicans won 80 medals, eight fewer than 2015, but made up in quality where they lost out on quantity at the biggest martial arts open in the world.

Kingston Taekwon-Do won 17 gold; Ultimate Taekwon-Do won four; Rising Sun Karate, six; Ningen Karate, three; Future Leaders, two; First Jamaica Zendo, one, and the three-man combined team won one gold in continuous sparring.

“This is unbelievable, a dream come true for me,” said veteran martial artist Jason McKay.

“We had fewer competitors than last year because Ningen Karate’s group was greatly reduced. There were few here from Rising Sun Karate, nobody from Seido Karate, because Romario Cole didn’t get his visa in time, yet we broke last year’s gold medal record and fell only eight short of equalling the overall tally of 88,” he added.

“This is, indeed, a remarkable feat because, last year, it was Rising Sun who won most medals. Imagine if they were here in full,” McKay added.

After opening the tournament with a silver on Thursday, going down by a point to New Zealand in the three-man Gold Cup final, Jamaica’s three-man combined martial arts team rebounded quickly Friday morning when Nicholas Dusard, Kenneth Edwards and Richard Stone beat the United States to win gold in continuous sparring.

That victory lifted Jamaica’s spirits and rallied the contingent to grab 14 gold, eight silver and eight bronze on the second day.

On Saturday’s third day, Jamaica added 20 gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze, ending the night with an ESPN-televised victory as Kingston Taekwon-Do’s Ackeem Lawrence beat many-time Canadian microweight world champion Maxime Bujold in their International Taekwon-Do Federation-style Night of Champions clash.

Jamaica’s top female fighters, Kingston Taekwon-Do’s Subrina Richards and Future Leaders Karate’s Sheckema Cunningham, both registered double gold medal performances, winning continuous and clash-sparring titles in their respective divisions.

It was Richards’ second year winning both points and clash sparring, but she had done so in a lighter weight division in 2015.

Though Kingston Taekwon-Do topped the medal count, all sparring events, other Jamaican martial arts schools shone in disciplines such as creative forms and weapons, showcasing the island’s all-round talent.

Khain Henry of Kyoshi Heather Campbell’s Rising Sun Karate won six gold medals in the five-year-old and under division — creative weapons, traditional weapons, creative forms, continuous sparring, clash and points sparring. He ended with seven medals, adding a silver in traditional forms.