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)

Ukrainians jump over a bonfire in Kiev, Ukraine, 06 July 2019, as they celebrate the traditional pagan holiday of Ivana Kupala. Ivana Kupala is celebrated, during the summer solstice, on the shortest night of the year, marking the beginning of summer and is celebrated in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Russia. People sing and dance around bonfires, play games and perform traditional rituals. Young people jump over bonfires in order to test their bravery. Couples holding hands jump over the flames to test their love. If the couple does not succeed it is predicted to split up. Traditionally, children and young unmarried women wear wreaths of wild flowers on their heads to symbolize purity. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE)

A racoon jumps over a fence in almost deserted Central Park in Manhattan on April 16, 2020 in New York City. Gone are the softball games, horse-drawn carriages and hordes of tourists. In their place, pronounced birdsong, solitary walks and renewed appreciation for Central Park's beauty during New York's coronavirus lockdown. The 843-acre (341-hectare) park – arguably the world's most famous urban green space – normally bustles with human activity as winter turns to spring, but this year due to Covid-19 it's the wildlife that is coming out to play. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)

14 week-old twin polar bear cubs play during their first presentation to the media in Hellabrunn zoo on March 19, 2014 in Munich, Germany. The male and female twins were born on December 9, 2013 in the zoo. (Photo by Alexandra Beier/Getty Images)

A tourist reacts as an elephant sprays her with water in celebration of the Songkran water festival in Thailand's Ayutthaya province, April 9, 2014. Songkran, the most celebrated festival of the year, marks the start of Thailand's traditional New Year. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

An armed man gestures in front of the police headquarters in Slaviansk, April 12, 2014. At least 20 armed militants wearing mismatched camouflage outfits took over the police and security services headquarters in the eastern city of Slaviansk seizing hundreds of handguns. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Scores of internally displaced Muslims are at the heart of the humanitarian crisis in Central African Republic, where violence between Christians and Muslims has threatened to spiral into genocide. Photo: An internally displaced woman carries her child in a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs), located at Bangui International Airport, April 10, 2014. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Colleen Kelley, of Iowa City, Iowa, fixes the hat on her dog Bruce during judging at the 35th annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest, Monday, April 21, 2014, in Des Moines, Iowa. The pageant kicks off the Drake Relays festivities at Drake University where a bulldog is the mascot. (Photo by Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)