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 young man looks over his shoulder as men watching a soccer match in a nearby bar ask why he isn't watching the game, while walking with his date during the men's gold medal soccer match between Brazil and Germany during Rio 2016 on Saturday, August 20, 2016. (Photo by Aaron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

An injured man is carried atop an Iraqi special forces armored vehicle during fighting against Islamic State militants in western Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

Members of the staff wait for the start of the maiden press conference for China's all-girl “boyband” FFC-Acrush in Beijing, China April 28, 2017. Picture taken April, 28, 2017. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

French mounted bullfighter Lea Vicens is gored by her first bull and falls off her horse during the 31st day of the San Isidro bullfighting festival at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain, 10 June 2017. (Photo by Victor Lerena/EPA)

A Raramuris indigenous woman takes part in the “Ultra maraton de los Canones 2017” (Ultra marathon of the Canyons), at La Sinforosa Canyon, in Guachochi, Chihuahua state, Mexico on July 15, 2017. More than 600 participants from different countries take part in the 63 and 100 kilometers races, along the Tarahumara mountain range. (Photo by Herika Martinez/AFP Photo)

Palestinian children warm themselves by a fire on a stormy day at Shati (beach) refugee camp in Gaza City January 18, 2016. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

People wash in water from a broken water pipeline on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, March 30, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)