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)

Andrea Rossato, Italy. Professional; Candid. Children enjoy the simple pleasures of a seaside holiday. (Photo by Andrea Rossato/Sony World Photography Awards)

Boys play with water as they celebrate Myanmar's New Year Water Festival of Thingyan in Yangon, April 13, 2016. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Meade forward Jaisean Kenner (21) hauls down a rebound against Sherwood forward Bryce Johnson (33) during the Class 4A boys' semifinals on March 8, 2023. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

Local residents walk in a flooded street during an evacuation from a flooded area after the Nova Kakhovka dam breached, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Ivan Antypenko/Reuters)

A seal infront of a passing cruise ship on the shore between Sandhaven village and Fraserburgh in Scotland in August 2023. (Photo by Mark Grant/Caters News Agency)

A giraffe quenches its thirst at a watering hole at Zimanga Private Game Reserve, South Africa in the second decade of December 2023. (Photo by Janette Hill/Animal News Agency)

A cat, named “Sulo”, is seen in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square wearing sunglasses, in Turkiye, on December 30, 2022. (Photo by Murat Sengul/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)