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)

A wax figure of U.S. actress Scarlett Johansson stands outside Madame Tussauds New York attraction shortly after the figure was unveiled in Times Square in New York, July 30, 2015. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

Princess Charlene poses after the arrival of the Riviera Water Bike Challenge in support of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, in Nice, France, June 4, 2017. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

The first autonomous and electric shuttle of PostAuto Schweiz in the old village of Sion, Switzerland, June 2016. (Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

The Royal Castle is seen a veil of heavy winter smog in Budapest, Hungary on January 30, 2017. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

A reveller performs while attending the block party “Galo da Madrugada” during carnival festivities in Sao Paulo, Brazil on February 25, 2020. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Reuters)

A full moon rising over the Re Island Bridge in Rivedoux, France is pictured on December 14, 2016. (Photo by Xavier Leoty/AFP Photo)

A woman enjoys the sun at Plaka beach on the Aegean island of Naxos, Greece, Friday, May 14, 2021. Greece launched its tourism season Friday amid a competitive scramble across the Mediterranean to lure vacationers emerging from lockdowns. (Photo by Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo)