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)

Athletes vie for the ball during the Mud Olympics in Brunsbuettel, Germany, 30 July 2016. Since 2004, amateur athletes have been competing in various events at the mouth of the Elbe river on the North Sea. The proceeds are traditionally donated to the Schleswig-Holstein Cancer Society. (Photo by Daniel Bockwoldt/EPA)

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)

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)

Skeleton involves a person riding a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down. The sport is a more intense form of luge because skeleton competitors leap onto the sled and slide downhill head first. Skeleton athletes can reach up to 80 mph on straightaways, causing forces up to 5g, so the helmet is a critical component for attitude as well as safety.

Japan' s Kaori Sakamoto competes in the women' s single skating short program of the figure skating event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on February 21, 2018. (Photo by John Sibley/Reuters)

Russia' s Tiffani Zagorski and Russia' s Jonathan Guerreiro compete in the ice dance free dance of the figure skating event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on February 20, 2018. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)