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 undated handout image provided by UNICEF Germany on 20 December 2016 shows the “UNICEF Photo of the Year 2016” by Iranian freelance photographer Arez Ghaderi. Ghaderi won the first prize for his picture of a girl in a makeshift tent city in the Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, it was announced at a ceremony in Berlin, Germany on 20 December 2016. (Photo by Ariz Ghaderi/EPA/UNICEF Deutschland)

This photo taken on November 6, 2023 shows people posing for photos next to the statue of “Hachiko” in front of Shibuya station in central Tokyo, ahead of the 100th anniversary of the legendary dog's birth this month. A century since its birth, the tale of the loyal companion who had waited at the Shibuya train station for its master to come home – not knowing he had already died – continues to inspire the public, who have made the statue a singular landmark at a glitzy hub of Tokyo's street culture. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

Carol Sofia Sanchez strikes a pose in her Shakira-inspired costume as she waits in line for the doors to open at Metropolitano Stadium, where pop star Shakira will perform in her hometown of Barranquilla in Colombia, Thursday, February 20, 2025. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

An Afghan woman walks along a street covered with snow on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan February 7, 2017. (Photo by Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

A man waits for Queen Beatrix's abdication ceremony outside the Royal Palace in Amsterdam April 30, 2013. The Netherlands is celebrating Queen's Day on Tuesday, which will also mark the abdication of Queen Beatrix and the investiture of her eldest son Willem-Alexander. (Photo by Paul Vreeker/Reuters)

Supporters of the presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressive Congress hits another supporter with a motorbike during celebrations in Kano, Nigeria March 31, 2015. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A protester is taken away by police during an electoral campaign closing rally of Spain's far-right party VOX in Madrid, Spain on April 26, 2019. (Photo by Juan Medina/Reuters)