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)

Yannis Behrakis, one of Reuters' most decorated and best-loved photographers, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was 58. Here: A pro-government Sierra Leonean fighter bites a bullet as he takes position in no man's land 2 km ahead of Rogberi junction where evidence of executed UN troops were found after heavy fighting between government troops and RUF rebels 100 km north east of Freetown, Sierra Leone, May 23, 2000. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

A model walks the runway at the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show at Earls Court on December 2, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

A model has her hair done before The Blonds Spring/Summer 2016 collection during New York Fashion Week in New York September 16, 2015. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

An empty cell block is pictured within Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp VI at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba March 22, 2016. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

A man falls from an ox cart as he competes during an ox cart competition near U Bein bridge, in Mandalay March 22, 2015. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

This lemur looks like he is channelling the spirit of Buddha – as he sits meditating. Sitting with his legs crossed, the lemur clasps his thumb and fore finger together with outstretched arms – just like the spiritual teacher. And amateur snapper Sebastien Degardin, 32, was on hand to capture the bizarre moment the animal searched for enlightenment on film. Sebastien, who moved from his native Belgium to Finchley, North London, said: “I was gobsmacked when I saw this lemur meditating”. (Photo by Sebastien Degardin/Caters News)

Heavy artillery on parade during a review of the Moscow Garrison troops during the May Day celebrations in Red Square, passing posters of Lenin and Stalin. (Photo by N. Sitnikov/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1st May 1947