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 racegoer cheers on their horse at Cheltenham Racecourse for ladies day on March 16, 2011 in Cheltenham, England.

A member of the “Ladies in White” dissident group shouts as she is carried away by police officers after they broke up a regular march of the group, detaining about 50 people, hours before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives for a historic visit, in Havana, Cuba March 20, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

A man plays to the cameras as racegoers make their way home at the end of Ladies Day the second day of the Aintree Grand National Festival meeting on April 8, 2016 in Aintree, England. Today is Fabulous Friday and Ladies Day of the three-day meeting of the world famous Grand National Festival where fashion and dressing to impress is as important as the racing. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

South Korean football fans react during a public screening in Seoul of the South Korea vs Russia football match at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, early on June 18, 2014. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Three prostitutes lean out of a window in Santiago, Chile, in an attempt to entice customers inside, circa 1950. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)

Jumeirah's Global Brand Ambassador Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, completes a remarkable year with another amazing bunker shot on the helipad at the Burj Al Arab hotel on December 12, 2011 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images for Jumeirah)