How medals are verified
Why every Breaktape medal is signed, what the verification page shows, and what each of its four results means.
Anyone can make a picture of a medal. A Breaktape medal is different because it's backed by a signed record of what you issued, from your official results. Anyone can check it, at any time, without signing in. That's what makes it worth putting on a CV, a club website or a charity page.
What signing means
When you release a medal, Breaktape signs a record of it: who it was for, the event, race and date, the time and position, who issued it and when, and where the result came from. If anyone changes a single detail, the signature no longer matches.
The signature is made when the medal is released, never before. Drafts aren't signed, so nothing can be verified until you've approved it.
How someone checks a medal
- On any public medal page, they press Verified medal. It also says who issued the medal and that it came from the official results.
- The verification page opens at breaktape.com/verify followed by the medal's ID.
- It shows the medal ID and one of four results.
A medal ID is 16 letters and numbers. Anyone with the ID can go straight to the verification page, even if they've only seen a screenshot.
The four results
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Verified | The medal is genuine. Breaktape checked its signature, and it matches what the organiser issued. The page lists what the medal certifies. |
| Updated | The medal was genuine, but the result was corrected and it was replaced. The page shows the date and a Check the current medal button. |
| Withdrawn | The medal was withdrawn, for example at the holder's request, and its details have been erased. The page says plainly that this doesn't mean it was fake. |
| No medal found | There's no Breaktape medal with that ID. The page suggests checking it was copied in full, and advises caution if someone showed it as a medal. |
Each result has its own icon, colour and heading, so they can't be mistaken for each other.
What the page shows
For a verified medal, the page lists the finisher, event, race, date, chip time, position, Issued by, Issued on and Result from. For a thank-you medal, it shows who it was awarded to, the award, the line on the medal and who gave it.
If the finisher has made their medal private, the page still confirms it's genuine, but shows only the event and who issued it. Their name, time and position stay hidden.
For a withdrawn medal, only the event, race, who issued it and the dates are left.
Good to know
- Corrections never break a link. An old medal stays checkable and points to the new one. See Correcting results.
- Withdrawn is not the same as fake. If a finisher deletes their medal, its page says it was withdrawn at the holder's request.
- Verification pages aren't listed by search engines. People reach them from the medal page or a link.
- You don't need to do anything. Every medal you release is signed and checkable automatically.
Related guides
Next in Trust and privacyPrivacy, data and erasure
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