Ireland's Chef de Mission for Baku 2015 says the inaugural European Games are a "risk" worth taking just 100 days out from the competition's opening ceremony.
Dermot Henihan also told The Pat Kenny Show this morning that he hopes the occasion will help the Azerbaijan capital to grow into "a real European city", despite the country's questionable human rights record.
"First of all we're a sporting organisation," Henihan told Pat, "and our top people have negotiated with the appropriate authorities in Azerbaijan.
"We hope that the legacy we leave will strengthen the situation of their independence, and help them grow in into a real European city."
The need for these games in an already packed calendar has also been under the microscope but Henihan says if anything they are overdue.
"If you take the Asian Games, the Pan American Games, the Oceania games, the only continent without their own games was Europe," he said.
"You have the European championships in a number of sports - as you would have in other continents - but what we're trying to do is pull these things together.
"The calendar is currently pretty cluttered, but what happened a number of years ago was there was a small group set up to look at a window of opportunity to have a European games ... [Pat Hickey] was leading that all they way.
"In November/December 2013 at the general assembly of the European Olympics committees in Rome ... there and then it was decided let's take a risk, let's go for it.
"The original plan was only for 10 sports - it's now 20. Twelve of these 20 sports have - in some sort form or fashion - have either direct or indirect ranking points towards Rio (2016 Olympic Games] ... which has moved the thing up to very high-quality athletes."
Henihan said Ireland will take "62 to 65 athletes from 11 to 12 sports" to Baku - including 10 male and 3 female boxers, led by Katie Taylor, who is an official ambassador for the Games.
Taylor said: “Baku 2015 will be great for European sport, and I am delighted to be involved both as an Athlete Ambassador and as a competitor. I will be doing my best to raise the Games’ profile and get the word out to as many people as possible.”
But neither athletics nor swimming will feature our elite performers as they will be junior-only events.
#FlameKeepers celebrate #100DTG for #Baku2015 European Games http://t.co/9TxdAlEK2y
— 2015 European Games (@BakuGames2015) March 4, 2015
The Games, to be screened here by Setanta Sports from June 12–28, will feature a total of 20 categories: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic.
Twelve of the sports will offer qualification opportunities for the 2016 Olympic Games, including archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, table-tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball and wrestling.
More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations.
One of the more novel inclusions is 3-v-3 basketball, which Henihan assured listeners is an excellent addition.
When asked by Pat why Baku were awarded the Games, he said: "It had to go some place. Azerbaijan had their names in the hats for a number of events ... they host everything. They love doing that.
"It's a young country, they're only 23-years-old. They have [oil] money," added Denihan, who said that the Games would not be without a legacy, with, among other things, Baku's first-ever public swimming pool.
"Another unusual piece of information is the new aquatic centre being built in Baku is the first-ever public swimming in Baku. One never existed before. So there'll be a good legacy after this."
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