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)

Visitors review their cell phone photos of an installation called “Plexus A1” by artist Gabriel Dawe, one of nine large-scale art installations displayed at the “Wonders” exhibit at the Renwick Art Gallery in Washington, DC, Wednesday, January 13, 2016. Built in the 1860s, the Renwick was the first American building to be designed specifically as an art museum; it recently reopened after a two year renovation. (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA)

Dancers perform during the Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Maracana Stadium on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

A kid from Sichuan provice smokes at an assistance center February 23, 2005 in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. The kids, ranging in age from 7 to 16, are temporary residents of the center, one of the institutions established by China's departments of civil affairs to help and administer beggars, vagrants and juvenile delinquents, after rescission of China's compulsory detainment and relocation system. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

A Iraqi soldier of the 9th division is seen within a Humvee in Shyma district in Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, December 6, 2016. Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, launched a campaign in October to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city and IS's last major urban bastion in Iraq. (Photo by Manu Brabo/AP Photo)

Magbola Alhadi, 20, and her three children pose for a portrait in Jamam refugee camp in Maban County, South Sudan on August 11th, 2012. Magboola and her family weathered aerial bombing raids for several months, but decided it was time to leave their village of Bofe the night that soldiers arrived and opened fire. With her three children, she travelled for 12 days from Bofe to the town of El Fudj, on the South Sudanese border. The most important thing that Magboola was able to bring with her is the saucepan she holds in this photograph. It wasn't the largest pot that she had in Bofe, but it was small enough she could travel with it, yet big enough to cook sorghum for herself and her three daughters (from left: Aduna Omar, 6, Halima Omar, 4, and Arfa Omar, 2) during their journey. (Photo by Brian Sokol/Panos Pictures)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)