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 woman wearing leggings with the colours of the US flag walks along a street of Havana on February 18, 2015. President Barack Obama announced Thursday he will make a landmark visit to Cuba on March 21-22, pledging to address human rights as America pursues a historic thaw with its former Cold War foe. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

Hostesses pose in front of a Suzuki Ignis car at the European Motor Show in Brussels, Belgium, January 13, 2017. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

An upside-down pair of pants is seen atop a mound of snow, Wednesday, February 20, 2019, the result of yet another snow storm to hit Omaha, Neb. The latest winter storm dumped more snow on top of the existing snow, creating a problem of what to do with all the cleared snow. (Photo by Nati Harnik/AP Photo)

A woman photographs “Super Space Titan Kitty” by Colin Christian at the “Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty” museum exhibit in honor of Hello Kitty's 40th anniversary, at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California October 10, 2014. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

A dirty thunderstorm occurs over Mount Sakurajima as the volcano erupts violently at 12:03 am on July 26, 2016 in Tarumizu, Kagoshima, Japan. The eruption occurred at the mountain's Showa crater. This is the first time that the active volcano in southern Kyushu has spewed out a smokestack that high since an eruption on August 18, 2013, according to the Kagoshima Meteorological Office. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

A model poses backstage ahead of the NLP show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia 2014 at Carriageworks on April 7, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Jean-François Leroy launched Visa Pour l’Image, the international photojournalism festival, in Perpignan in 1989. Before heading up the festival, Leroy was shooting reportage for the agency Sipa Press and also working for Photo-Reporter, Le Photographe, Photo-Revue and Photo Magazine. He is the chairman of the company Images Evidence. Photo: 2008 Visa d'or Feature: Brent Stirton. Conservation Rangers from an Anti-Poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorrillas killed in mysterious circumstances in the park, July 24, 2007, Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Exclusive by Getty Images)