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)

Russia' s Tiffani Zagorski and Russia' s Jonathan Guerreiro compete in the ice dance free dance of the figure skating event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on February 20, 2018. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Syrian Tulin Hashemi waits for a job interview at a hotel in Vidigal slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 22, 2015. Tulin, whose mother arrived two days ago, has been living in Brazil for two months. As she does not speak Portuguese, Tulin says it is difficult for her to find a job and therefore she is staying at the slum as it is one of the cheaper neighbourhoods to live in. According to the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), 2,077 people fleeing the Syrian civil war have settled in Brazil, whilst a quarter of the 8,400 refugees in the Latin American country come from Syria. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

A girl reacts as she is tattooed during the third International Tattoo Week Rio 2016 festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 22, 2016. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

American actress Bella Thorne in the second decade of February 2023 nearly pours on out for “Italian Fashion”. (Photo by bellathorne/Instagram)

A teenage girl from the Santa Marta favela slum puts on a pair of high heels for a group debutante ball organized by the Pacifying Police Unit from her neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, August 29, 2014. The ball, which relied on volunteers who coiffed and made up the girls and a formal wear shop that loaned the dresses, helped build goodwill between pacified favelas' residents and the officers who patrol them. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo via The Palm Beach Post)

Contestants dance during the Miss Plus Size Carioca beauty pageant on July 8, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 24 contestants, aged 18-45, competed in the contest which aims to challenge modern inclusive standards of beauty. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Thailand's badminton player Ratchanok Intanon, who hopes to win gold at the Rio Olympics, receives a massage during a morning training session at a gym in Bangkok, Thailand, June 22, 2016. As the humble daughter of factory workers at a Bangkok sweet-maker, badminton was a ticket out of poverty for Ratchanok Intanon, who hopes winning gold at the Rio Olympics might inspire more Thai girls to chase their dreams. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)