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 Muslim worshipper attends a mass prayer against COVID-19, the new coronavirus, in Dakar on March 4, 2020, after two cases were confirmed in Senegal in the previous days. Across the world, 3,155 people have died from the virus. More than 92,723 have been infected in 78 countries and territories, according to AFP's latest toll based on official sources at 1700 GMT on March 3, 2020. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

A rickshaw puller waits for customers during heavy rainfall in Kathmandu, Nepal, 28 May 2021. As Government stricken nationwide lockdown from 28 May 2021 to control coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection and deaths, low-income families are struggling to cater for their daily lives. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)

Singer Ariana Grande performs during the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at Greater Grace Temple, Friday, August 31, 2018, in Detroit. Franklin died August 16, 2018 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

The November 2018 Square Print Sale, presented by Magnum Photos and Aperture, brings together over 100 images to explore perspectives on transition and transformation in photography. Here: New York City, 1965, by Joel Meyerowitz. “A girl on a Vespa on her way to who knows where, when the light stopped her at the 72nd street crossing near the Dakota, where John Lennon would one day cross paths with his fate. She takes this moment to finesse a fingernail before she resumes her downtown journey, while I, stopping at the same crossing, but on foot, leap into the street to capture this vision of a dream girl before time takes her on her way”. (Photo by Joel Meyerowitz/Courtesy Aperture)

A Hong Kong Correctional Services Dog Unit (CSDU) officer demonstrates training at the CSDU training facility in Stanley, Hong Kong, China, 27 February 2018. The Hong Kong CSDU consists of 29 staff members divided across six dog teams. According to the department's latest figure from 2017, the average daily penal population of Hong Kong was 8,529. (Photo by Jérôme Favre/EPA/EFE)

Renee LeGrand, of Foothill Ranch, Calif., takes a picture among wildflowers in bloom Monday, March 18, 2019, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. About 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year's rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore, a city of about 60,000 residents. The crowds became so bad Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy-blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was re-opened. (Photo by Gregory Bull/AP Photo)

A torch bearer poses for photographs during the Olympic Torch Relay Celebration event on July 21, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. As the Olympic torch relay makes its way around Tokyo, public relays have been cancelled in favour of daily ceremonies held behind closed doors, as authorities act to avoid large gatherings while the country endures a fourth wave of coronavirus. (Photo by Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)