The Rio de Janeiro Olympics kick off on August 5 for some two weeks of competitive games drawing athletes as well as audiences from around the world. As they prepare to cover the event, Reuters photographers look back on their favourite pictures from past Olympics where they captured the action on the ground as well as the participants' tears and joy that followed. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

A young fan plays a virtual reality game during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Monday, August 29, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)

Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates with champagne on the podium after winning the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo on May 28, 2023. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

A Barbie cosplayer arrives for San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, on July 20, 2023. (Photo by Chris Delmas/AFP Photo)

Janus, a two-headed Greek turtle named after the Roman god with two heads is testing a kind of skateboard to rehabilitate one day ahead of her 25th birthday at the Natural History Museum in Geneva on September 2, 2022. (Photo by Pierre Albouy/Reuters)

Sage Colina holds Rhianna as she is prepared to be adopted from the Humane Society of Greater Miami on December 13, 2023 in Miami, Florida. The shelter is experiencing an overcrowding crisis, like many nationwide, with people releasing their family pets to animal shelters since they can no longer afford to take care of them, after the high cost of pet care and the expense of veterinarian services, among other reasons. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A boy takes his basset hound for a walk with a difference in Noosa, Australia on Saturday, March 9, 2024, during the annual Surf Dog Championships. (Photo by Roberta Holden/Solent News)

This aerial picture taken on June 29, 2024 shows fishing boats moored at a beach in Danang, central Vietnam. (Photo by Dale De La Rey/AFP Photo)