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)

An Indian man feeds peanuts to monkeys along a busy street in Ahmedabad on July 31, 2016. Feeding animals is sacred in Hindu society. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)

In this photo taken on Sunday, September 4, 2016, a Kyrgyz boy holds a golden eagle during the second World Nomad Games at Issyk Kul lake in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. The Games, which opened on Saturday on a picturesque mountain plain in eastern Kyrgyzstan, bring together athletes from 40 countries including Russia and the United States where nomadic traditions are strong. (Photo by Vladimir Voronin/AP Photo)

A Sadhu, Hindu holy person, prepares himself by smearing ashes on his body during the Maha Shivaratri festival at the Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal, 11 March 2021. The Maha Shivratri festival, which is celebrated on 11 March, sees Hindu devotees, from across the country and neighboring India, gather to celebrate the birthday of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of creation and destruction, by offering special prayers and fasting. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA/EFE)

A man walks at the empty Karon beach on Phuket Island, Thailand on April 1, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A Palestinian girl watches from the balcony of her house as Israeli soldiers conduct a security operation in the village of Aqraba, east of Nablus in the occupied-West Bank, on May 3, 2021. Suspected Palestinian gunmen carried out a drive-by shooting at a nearby junction the previous, leaving three Israeli civilians wounded, one of them in critical condition, with a manhunt underway. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP Photo)

A woman sits by a fountain in central Moscow, Russia on June 23, 2021. On June 23, 2021, daytime temperature is expected to reach +36°C (96.8°F). An orange weather warning has been issued due to the heat wave. (Photo by Sergei Fadeichev/TASS)

Soldiers of the French Air and Space Force who took part in the Skyros Operation get ready prior to the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris on July 14, 2021. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP Photo)