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 National Bolivarian Police officer rescues a man who was being attacked by protesters, who then threw rocks at them, during a protest demanding food a few blocks from Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Venezuela is seeing rising frustration with widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation. (Photo by Fernando Llano/AP Photo)

Rascal, and her brother Petey, were abandoned as pups near the railroad tracks in Union County, Arkansas. She is a pit bull cross and approximately 6 months old, in Arkansas, United States. These canine portraits will make any dog lover's day – and they're helping to get sheltered pups adopted at the same time. Kind-hearted photographer Tammy Swarek came up with the idea of dressing up rescue dogs to draw attention to their stories and help potential owners personally connect with them. (Photo by Tammy Swarek/Barcroft Images)

Tourist take pictures at Mai Khao Beach, as a plane approaches the Phuket International Airport in Phuket, Thailand March 17, 2016. With its palm-fringed beaches, Buddhist culture and racy nightlife, Thailand has been the poster child for Asian tourism for decades, attracting a range of visitors from backpackers and adventure-seekers, to families and culture vultures. But dark clouds could be forming even as a record of 32 million tourists are expected this year. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A man reacts over dead bodies prior to burial in a graveyard after shelling in the rebel held besieged town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, October 24, 2016. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

Women perform a pole dancing routine during the national day celebration of “Urban Pole” dance along a street in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 9, 2013. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

A police officer gives instructions to migrants rushing to board a train that would take them towards Serbia, at the railway station in the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, Wednesday, August 20, 2015. Macedonian police stepped up the security at the border with Greece apparently trying to stem recent surge of migrants who are coming from Greece. (Photo by Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo)

Baka pygmies in their forest home preparing food in, Sangha Forest, Central African Republic, February 2016. Here, in their forest home, traditional life continues in the face of multiplying challenges ranging from poachers, to ill health. Deep in the rainforests of central Africa lives one of the world’s most mysterious tribes. (Photo by Susan Schulman/Barcroft Images)