The use of Olympiads and Olympic stadion victors to reckon time resulted in the creation of a modified version of the standard catalog of Olympic victors. This modified victor catalog, which is here called a chronographic catalog of Olympic victors, listed only the names of stadion winners. Comments on periodonikai and on athletes who won multiple victories at a single Olympiad, both of which were found in standard catalogs, were carried over, but the names of victors in events other than the stadion were omitted because they lacked chronographic significance. This stripped down catalog was enriched with a considerable amount of information that was exhibited in separate narrative segments in Olympionikon anagraphai. Brief notes about the introduction of new events into the Olympic program, about athletes who won multiple victories over multiple Olympiads, and about the exploits of famous athletes were added to the entries for the appropriate Olympiads. Other, purely chronographic information, particularly key synchronizations among various systems of dating, was also added. These catalogs were in at least some cases prefaced by a short account of the history of the Olympics.

The interdependent chronographic catalogs of Olympic victors found in the work of Sextus Julius Africanus, Eusebius, and Panodoros all began with the first Olympiad. As there is some evidence that the victor catalogs in the other known Olympiad chronographies also began with the first Olympiad, it is probably safe to assume that all chronographic catalogs began, as it were, in the beginning.