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)

Workers carry sacks of tea leaves at a tea estate in Nagaon district in the northeastern state of Assam, India, August 22, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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)

Palestinian children warm themselves by a fire on a stormy day at Shati (beach) refugee camp in Gaza City January 18, 2016. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

South Korea's Black Eagles aerobatics team performs an aerial display forming a Ying and Yang logo during the Singapore Airshow at Changi exhibition center in Singapore on February 16, 2016. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)

A photograph of Cuba's former President Fidel Castro decorates a wall inside a state-run market in Havana, March 8, 2016. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A woman takes part in the procession of the “Virgem da Atalaia” procession during Holy Week at Alcochete, near Lisbon, Portugal March 27, 2016. Women ride on donkeys during the “Virgem da Atalaia” procession, that has been held annually for about 400 years. In the past, only single women rode the donkeys to ask for help from the Virgin to find a husband. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

An abandoned tank left by Boko Haram, February 20, 2016, seen on the road to Michika, Nigeria – a town formerly occupied by the insurgents. On April 14, 2014, 300 schoolgirls in the Chibok village in Nigeria were kidnapped by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Two years later, the majority of these girls are still missing. According to the Global Terrorism Index Report 2015, Boko Haram, which operates mainly in Nigeria, has become the most deadly terrorist group in the world. (Photo by Danielle Villasana)