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)

Women perform a pole dancing routine during the national day celebration of “Urban Pole” dance along a street in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 9, 2013. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Opposition protesters take to the streets of Moscow. Mass meeting in Bolotnaya Square on December 10, 2011 in Moscow, Russia.

Photo by: Stas Sedov and Dmitry Chistoprudov; Source: AirPano

An Israeli soldier takes part in during a rehearsal for a ceremony to mark Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers at the Mount of Olives cemetery in east Jerusalem, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Israel will mark the annual Memorial Day in remembrance of soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts, beginning at dusk Tuesday until Wednesday evening. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

A pro-independence protester sits in front of Catalonia's regional parliament as lawmakers vote inside, in Barcelona, January 16, 2014. (Photo by Albert Gea/Reuters)

A Kurdish girl celebrates Newroz Day, a festival marking spring and the new year, in Akra, Iraq March 20, 2016. Nowruz is the name of the Iranian New Year also referred to as Persian New Year which is celebrated worldwide by Iranian peoples, along with some other ethno-linguistic groups. Nowruz is the day of the vernal equinox, and marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day, depending on where it is observed. Although having Persian and religious Zoroastrian origins, Nowruz has been celebrated by people from diverse ethno-linguistic communities for thousands of years. (Photo by Ari Jalal/Reuters)

A woman prepares to fly a kite, during an event celebrating spring at the Citadel in Amman, Jordan, April 15, 2016. (Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)