Their destination - San Marino. Their mission - to compete with honour and success, but most of all with honour, at the 17th Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE) which will be officially opened tomorrow (May 29) by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.

This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the first GSSE, a biennial multi-sports event that is returning to the small republic within Italy which - with the support of the IOC and the European Olympic Committees (EOC) - first hosted it back in 1985.

San Marino thus takes massive credit in the history of the GSSE, although the EOC website credits the National Olympic Committee of Malta for the original initiative.

A total of 222 athletes from eight nations took part in that initial event. The third GSSE in San Marino is expected to involve around 1,000 athletes from nine nations, Montenegro having joined the party in 2011. So the Games are growing - but in a suitably small way.

And given the ground rules for eligibility it is unlikely ever to become cumbersome in the manner of its exalted inspiration, the Olympic Games. Competing states have to be members of the EOC, with a population of less than a million.

This gives the GSSE its core of small nations - Andorra, Cyprus (which has population of over a million now but didn't in 1984), Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino.

The Faroe Islands have expressed interest in joining, but their ambitions have been stunted by the fact that they are not an independent state - they are an autonomous part of Denmark - and not an EOC member.

Any similar ambitions held by Gibraltar, which is a member of the Athletic Association of the Small States of Europe, have been stymied by the awkward political stand-off between Britain and Spain over its ownership. Overtures made in the 1980s to become part of the GSSE did not exactly hit the spot with then IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The Games feature nine core summer Olympic sports, and allow for local variations in the manner of the Olympics. Thus golf made its debut in the 2015 event hosted by Iceland in Reykjavik, and archery will be contested for the first time this week in San Marino.

There is another unusual feature of the GSSE that takes into account the practical difficulties of small states putting together sporting teams across a range of events. To take part, you do not have to be a passport-holding citizen of the state you represent.

The situation is clearly explained by the director of Monaco's Athletic Federation - and director for the Principality's annual International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League meeting - Jean-Pierre Schoebel.

Schoebel has been involved in every Games since 1987, when he was in charge of Monaco's track and field athletes as the Principality hosted the second Games. In 2007 he was in charge of organisation when the Games returned to Monaco, and for the last 10 years he has been President of the GSSE Technical Commission.

Essentially, were this rule not in place, Schoebel and his athletes would only have required a single bus to be waiting for them at the Ecole Des Revoirs.

"You are not obliged to be a citizen to represent one of the states at the Games," he told insidethegames. "Typically we send teams of around 100, and we couldn't possibly do that just from Monaco passport holders. It is the same for most of the other countries involved.

"But in order to compete you have to have been living in the country you represent for at least three years, and there is a special Commission to determine eligibility. So far the rule has been very well accepted and followed.

"Monaco is one of the states that uses the maximum amount of foreign nationals. If we didn't our team would probably be only 15 to 20 competitors, which would make it impossible to support the event.

"For instance, in team sports like volleyball, we don't have 12 players of a suitable standard who all have Monaco passports. If you changed the rule, most countries wouldn't be able to support team sports in the Games any more.

"So having the Games of the Small States of Europe is like holding a small Olympic Games just for us. The costs are not so high, and states can field a much larger team than they would for the Olympics.

"If Monaco sends a team to the Olympics, it is a maximum of two or three athletes. This allows many more athletes to take part, and encourages good relationships among a number of different sports."

Schoebel has seen the Games grow steadily over the years. But while the numbers involved may have altered, he believes the essence of the event has remained constant.

"These are serious competitions - but we try always to make them still Games," he said. "They are not only competitive, they are about keeping a spirit of friendship through sport among us eight or nine small countries."

So a bit like an old-style Olympics then?

"You are right," said Schoebel. "That is why Monaco has always been very, very interested in this competition.

"The Games are growing in popularity and firmly established now in the sporting calendar. Montenegro - who became part of the Games in 2011 - will hold the next ones in 2019, Andorra will be hosts in 2021, and we will decide where the 2023 and 2025 versions will be staged.

"The competition is not at the level of the Olympics, or World Championships, although there are sometimes performances at a world class level.

"But generally there is less pressure on the athletes, because the sport is not generally at Olympic or world level, so there is less expectation from the country the athletes represent. I am not saying the competition is unimportant, but it is a different quality of competitive experience."

Since the GSSE began, Iceland has been most successful in terms of medals, winning a total of 1,144, including 452 golds, in front of Cyprus who boast 438 golds out of a tally of 1,136. 

Luxembourg's 988 medals include 331 golds.

Of the original eight members, Andorra have had the least medal success, earning a total of 235 medals, 44 of them gold.

The list of GSSE records gives an indication of the level of the competition in world terms, with some events reaching world or Olympic class.

For example, in track and field, the women's pole vault record of 4.40 metres was set in 2005 by Iceland's Thorey Edda Elisdottir, who was ranked ninth in the world rankings the previous year with her personal best of 4.60. She went on to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

At the 2001 Games in San Marino, Iceland's Einar Karl Hjartarson cleared 2.25m in the men’s high jump, a height that was matched in Cyprus eight years later by home jumper Kyriacos Ioannou.

The men's 100m and 400m records are held by Anninos Marcoullides of Cyprus, who recorded 10.23sec for the shorter sprint at the 2001 Games in San Marino, having run 47.27 for the 400m in Andorra ten years earlier.

Montenegro's Danijel Furtala made an impression on the discus throw for the newly-joined nation when he managed 62.83m at the Games hosted by Luxembourg in 2013.

Monaco's 800m runner Brice Etes competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, and at the latter event was accompanied by fellow countrymen Kevin Crovetto in artistic gymnastics and Yann Siccardi in judo.

Three women share the high jump record of 1.86m - Thordis Gisladottir of Iceland first set it in 1997, and her achievement was matched in 1999 by Monaco's Irene Tiendrebeogo and in 2011 by Montenegro's Marija Vukovic.

The women's javelin record of 58.93m was set in 2009 by Iceland's Asdis Hjalmsdottir.

In terms of GSSE swimming records, Luxembourg and Iceland dominate. Om Amarsson of Iceland holds the men's 100m freestyle record of 49.97sec and the 100m butterfly record of 53.85.

On the women's side the 100m freestyle mark stands at 55.66 to Luxembourg's Julie Meynen, while Iceland's Eyglo Osk Gustafsdottir holds 100 and 200m backstroke records of 1:01.20 and 2:12.52.

But for these Games it can truly be said that the taking part is the important thing. And taking part in the Opening Ceremony is also an important thing.

Tickets for tomorrow's curtain-raiser at the San Marino Stadium have sold out. The Organising Committee reported that its headquarters had been "literally besieged" by those seeking tickets.

Bach's visit to the Games will be the third by an IOC President following the attendance of Samaranch in 1985 and 2001.

A year ago the NOCs of the nine competing countries met for their general assembly in San Marino, where the President of the host NOC, Gian Primo Giardi, expressed the opinion that the Games “must recapture the spirit of the past so as not to disappear".

At the end of the General Assembly, Gian Primo Giardi said: "Our works confirmed that the small states of Europe still believe in this event. 

"The goal we have set ourselves - to prepare a document able to define the guidelines for future editions - has been achieved; we now know where we must start to write the future of our small Olympics."

He added: !It is symbolic that right after today's meeting, during which we heard a presentation by the Montenegrin Committee for the 2019 GSSE, the NOCs of Andorra for 2021, Malta for 2023 and Monaco for 2025 expressed their wish to organise the Games. It's a good sign."

Last May, to mark the year to go until the start of the Games, the Organising Committee of San Marino 2017 focused on the involvement of the Republic's population by staging a Countdown Relay race that started from the nine Castles of San Marino and finished on top of Monte Titano.

Since then the inevitable mascot, Sammy, has been introduced, along with the official logo and website.

At a pre-event press conference last week, Giardi said: "The appointment with the Games of the Small States is approaching, which our Republic will have the pleasure and the honour of organising for the third time after the unforgettable editions of 1985 and 2001. 

"A new cycle begins, yet another from San Marino, and the challenge for all of us will be to return to this important event, born out of a vision far more than 30 years ago, its initial spirit, recalling the emotions it has generated during the years. These Games are our Olympics."

Schoebel adds: "It is a landmark for the competition that it will return to San Marino this week for the third time. Every country takes its turn in hosting the Games, and these latest Games will mark the start of the third cycle of hosting."

Reflecting on his responsibilities in 2007, when he was responsible for his home Principality playing host to the Games for the second time, he added: "It was a difficult process of organisation. The biggest difficulty we had was in offering accommodation. That was a huge challenge. It will not be so easy for San Marino, either.

"In the end we were lucky in 2007 because we had the huge idea of having a cruiser moored in the harbour to house all our Games athletes.

"It was a lot of fun for the athletes, and it worked well."

Schoebel never loses sight of what he views as the intrinsic merit of this competition.

"The most important thing for us on the Technical Committee is to have a good competition and good sportsmanship," he said. 

"This is something that is a very nice thing, bringing people together in sport.

"That's why this idea had such strong support from the IOC when it started a year after the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and that support is strongly shared by the EOC.

"There is a strong emphasis always on fairness, and not cheating. The competition is important, but what is most important is to have fairness and friendship. This is something all who take part believe in."