Our story
From the pine forests of Ain Saadeh to the Olympic stage
Champions Elite is the taekwondo academy founded by Dr. Habib Zarifeh. It grew out of the Mont La Salle Taekwondo Club in Ain Saadeh, Lebanon — the team that has won the Lebanese national championship 36 years in a row — and today trains children, competitors and national-level athletes in Lebanon and Dubai.
The dynasty
Mont La Salle is a Lasallian college and sports centre set on a wooded hillside in Ain Saadeh, in the Metn hills above Beirut. Its Palais des Sports opened in 1977, and in the early 1990s its taekwondo section began a championship run that has never stopped. The club won the Lebanese title in every category in 1993, finished runner-up at the Arab Club Champions Championship in 1997, and has been crowned national champion every year since — in 2026 for the 36th consecutive time, taking both the men’s and the women’s senior team titles.
The Lebanese press calls it “the green and white dynasty” and describes a signature style: depth in every weight category, a staff that manages the decisive moments, and a culture of performance that is not negotiable. Olympians Andrea Paoli (London 2012, flag bearer for Lebanon) and Laetitia Aoun (Paris 2024, semifinalist) both came through the Mont La Salle ranks.
Milestones
| Early 1990s | Mont La Salle wins its first Lebanese taekwondo championship; in 1993 it is champion in every category. |
| 1993 | Habib Zarifeh, a dental student at Saint Joseph University, joins the club under Grand Master Frederic Sarraf and earns his black belt in eighteen months. |
| 1997 | Runner-up at the Arab Club Champions Championship, against clubs from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait. |
| 1999 | Habib Zarifeh wins the Lebanese title (−58 kg) and becomes team captain, a role he keeps until he retires from the national team in 2007. |
| 2003–2005 | The Lebanon Open is organised in Beirut. |
| 2010–2016 | As national head coach, Dr. Zarifeh guides Lebanon to its first Youth Olympic medal (Michel Samaha, Singapore 2010), its first world junior medal (Mexico 2010) and its first senior Olympic qualification (London 2012, Andrea Paoli of Mont La Salle). |
| 2016 | Dr. Zarifeh is elected President of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation; re-elected in 2025 for a third term. |
| By 2019 | Champions Elite Dubai is training children aged 4–16 at Champs Sports Club, Al Quoz. |
| 2021 | Champions Elite is inaugurated in Lebanon as a modern high-performance centre: certified physical and mental preparation staff, and federation-accredited doctors for athlete follow-up. |
| 2024 | Paris Olympic Games — Laetitia Aoun of Mont La Salle reaches the semifinal and finishes fifth, Lebanon’s best Olympic result in any sport in 44 years. |
| 2025 | 35th consecutive national title — men’s and women’s double crown. |
| 2026 | Dr. Zarifeh is inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame® in Jersey City, New Jersey. In October, the cup stays home: 36th consecutive national title, seniors, men and women — watch the highlights. |
Founder — Dr. Habib Zarifeh
Born in Beirut in 1975, Habib Zarifeh took up taekwondo at eighteen and became one of the first Lebanese fighters to win international medals: silver at the 1997 West Asian Games, silver at the 2002 Francophone World Cup in Paris, and gold and MVP at the 2002 Mediterranean Championship in Tunisia — 37 national and international medals between 1999 and 2007, with appearances at the Asian Championships, the 2005 World Championships and the Asian Games (Busan 2002, Doha 2006). He holds a 5th Dan from the Kukkiwon.
He coached the national team from 2007 and served as National Head Coach from 2010 to 2016. Since 2016 he has been President of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation, where his tenure has included hosting the 2021 Asian Championships, the 2023 Asian Cadet and Junior Championships, the 2023 Arab Championship and five Beirut Open international championships, and the opening of the Kukkiwon Office in Lebanon in 2023. In August 2026 he was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame® in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Outside the dojang he is an oral surgeon and cosmetic dentist, Head of Oral Surgery at CMC Hospital Beirut and founder of Smile Infinity® Medical Centers. His three sons compete for the academy in the junior categories. Read his full biography on the Founder & Visionary page.
Coaching team
Mont La Salle, Ain Saadeh
Elie Elia, Mariella Bou Habib, Mark Khalife, Rami Saleh, Jerome Hajj, Georgio Khabbaz, Giorgio Mansour, Maribel Skaff, Charbel Raad, Jihad Saad, Leon Glasnovic, Tarek Moussalli, Rhea Sholy and Kerena Sholly.
Clubs & Dubai
Each of our clubs across Lebanon is led by a Champions Elite master — from Giorgio Mansour and Rami Saleh in Roumieh to Joe and Ray Copti in Jounieh and Zouk, Elie Elia in Zalka and Dik El Mehdi, and Charbel Jomaa in Zahle. In Dubai, Patrick Shoeiry and Viola El Atrache lead the Champs Sports Club academy. See every club and trainer on the Clubs page.
Our standards
- World Taekwondo rules. We train and compete under World Taekwondo (WT) competition rules, with WT-approved protective equipment.
- Kukkiwon grading. Belt promotions follow the Kukkiwon poom/dan curriculum and the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation’s promotion regulations, including minimum attendance between grades.
- Federation membership. Our competitive athletes are licensed with the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation and compete for Mont La Salle in the national championship.
- Athlete welfare. Weight management, medical follow-up and anti-doping education follow the federation’s and WT’s athlete-protection standards.
Champions Elite is an independent academy. World Taekwondo, Kukkiwon and the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation are referred to by name only; their marks belong to their respective organisations.
