A string is used to ensure that the skirts of female members of the honour guard are in the same height from the ground as they prepare for a welcoming ceremony for Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 5, 2016. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

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)

Relatives perform the last rites before the cremation of their loved one who died due to the Covid-19 coronavirus at a cremation ground in Allahabad on May 4, 2021. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A woman moves a sandbag along a flooded road in the aftermath of the heaviest recorded rainfall in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province on Saturday, July 24, 2021. Rescuers used bulldozers and rubber boats to move residents out of flooded neighborhoods in central China on Saturday after torrential rains killed at least 56 people. (Photo by Dake Kang/AP Photo)

Waxworks artists retouch the wax figures at the unveiling of Little Mix waxwork figures at Madame Tussauds, in London, Britain, July 28, 2021. (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images)

A waitress wearing a protective mask and gloves to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) serves a drink for a customer at the Koral restaurant in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on August 9, 2021. (Photo by Fikri Yusuf/Antara Foto via Reuters)

An officer from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife gets ready to tranquillize a bear in Pasadena, California, U.S., August 20, 2021. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Waka Tsukiyama and Sayaka Unagi compete during the Women's Pro-Wrestling “Stardom” at Korakuen Hall on September 06, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)