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 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)

The jewelled flower mantis, commonly found in Asia, is believed to be the inspiration for many martial artists is seen in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 2, 2016. (Photo by Prabu Dennaga/Barcroft Images)

A topless activist of women's rights group FEMEN tries to break a segment of the Berlin wall which is on display outside the German embassy, during a protest against EU visa regime for Ukrainian citizens in Kiev, Ukraine, November 24, 2016. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

An undated handout picture made available by the Symbio Wildlife Park on 28 November 2016 shows three Pygmy Marmoset monkeys including an adult male, a female juvenile and a four-week-old baby, at the Symbio Wildlife Park in Helensburgh, South of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (Photo by EPA/Symbio Wildlife Park)

The new wax figure of American singer Jennifer Lopez is unveiled on May 21, 2003 at Madame Tussauds, London. The waxwork is the first ever blushing figure. (Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

English reality television personality and country music singer Megan Elizabeth McKenna is seen at Soho House on May 24, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Deaf and hard of hearing people perform a Buddhist Guanyin Thousand Hand dance to mark Sunday's National Day for Helping the Disabled in Yunnan, Kunming province, China on May 19, 2018. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)