On Friday evening UK voted. With the help of the British Olympic Team, who shared the petition over social media, we received 20.000 new signatures in a short time. That's fantastic. Thank you so much! Meanwhile I would like to pubish my email to the IOC here. Thank you Kaj Beuter *** Dear Mr. Thomas Bach, Dear Mr. De Kepper, my name is Kaj Beuter and I'm the initiator of the petition "Do not punish the whistleblower - Yuliya Stepanova for Rio" on change.org. The central postulation of this petition is to allow Yuliya Stepanova to participate in the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio as an athlete under the neutral flag. And I'm proud to say, that I'm now speaking in the name of over 66.000 people all over the world who signed this petition within less than one week. According to Change.org, this amount of signatures is extraordinary and remarkable for an online petition. This shows very clearly how important this topic appear to a huge number of sports interested people. Let me quickly explain my motivation for that petition. I'm not a sportive man and my interest in sports is not very distinctive. That means I follow sport events ocassionally, not paying too much attention. And though I'm in contact now with Yuliya Stepanova, I haven't had any connection to her before this week. But I'm am a politically interested person and especially human rights, civil courage and engagement are topics I'm really caring about. That's why I've watched very intensively reports in German TV, especially news provided by Hajo Seppelt about systemativ doping. I hope you agree that this story really has a significant political dimension beside sport. Provided with information from German press I was shocked to hear the IOC's decision not to accept Yuliya Stepanova in Rio. And by just taking a short look in the commentary sections of the international press I come to the conclusion that I am in good company with this opinion. You might understand that, as a caring citizen, I felt that it was my duty to start this petition. Whistleblowing, in most cases, is a dangerous and therefore a heroic business. A lot of scandals and grievances have been revealed during the last years only with the help of whistleblowers. I do not want to strech history too much but especially we, the Germans, know how important it is to speak freely, oppose against injustice and fight for truth. Our history would have been much better if we have had more of that courages people. Unfortunately it costs quite an effort to blow the whistle and we should ensure to provide as much motivation as we can to support these people. There is a point in your charta that says: "[...] the role of the IOC [..] is:] "To encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned" This is a very honorable target and expresses important values in our society. And I totally agree that fair play and ethics are the most important values we can teach to young people to make this a better world. So all I ask is you to stick to your own high standards. Show the young people that truth and engagement is always the right decision. Show the young people that the IOC is supporting the Olympic Spirit with best endeavors. Don't make Yuliya Stepanova be a victim of political games and bureaucracy. Good decisions can sometimes be made quick and easy. I also would like to hand over the signatures of this petition to the IOC. I kindly ask for a possibility to do so. I would be very thankful if you could give me the possibility for a personal hand over, preferably in Germany or any other European country. In the name of 66.000 people, I thank you very much for your attention and hope that you will come to the right decision. Sincerely Kaj Beuter