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)

Olga Gharkova enters a aromatherapy room at the British Banya bathhouse, Saturday, February 15, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, just a few miles away from the ski slopes where athletes are competing for Olympic medals. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/Associated Press)

Brazilian revelers pose during Carnival celebrations along Ipanema beach on February 18, 2012 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A reveller from Uniao da Ilha samba school performs during the second night of the carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil February 27, 2017. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Syrian Tulin Hashemi waits for a job interview at a hotel in Vidigal slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 22, 2015. Tulin, whose mother arrived two days ago, has been living in Brazil for two months. As she does not speak Portuguese, Tulin says it is difficult for her to find a job and therefore she is staying at the slum as it is one of the cheaper neighbourhoods to live in. According to the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), 2,077 people fleeing the Syrian civil war have settled in Brazil, whilst a quarter of the 8,400 refugees in the Latin American country come from Syria. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

A girl reacts as she is tattooed during the third International Tattoo Week Rio 2016 festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 22, 2016. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

A sculpture is displayed at the Olympic Sculptures Exhibition at the Sculpture Park September 4, 2006 in Changchun of Jilin Province, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

South Korea's Shim Sukhee falls in the women's 1,500m short track speed skating heat event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on February 17, 2018. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)