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)

Schoolchildren play music to entertain and inspire people on their way home from work Tuesday, March 29, 2016 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea has called a 70-day loyalty drive areas of a major congress of the ruling party scheduled for early May and everyone from students to coal miners have been mobilized nationwide to demonstrate their devotion to the leadership. (Photo by Eric Talmadge/AP Photo)

The giant metal structure sits 330ft above the ground on the roof of a 22 storey office block in Dutch capital Amsterdam on September 6, 2016. Tourists sit in a playground-style chair as they propel themselves them over the edge of the building with only thin-air between them and the ground below. Engineers spent several years designing and building the breathtaking swing. By being fixed to the top of a building it reaches new heights – dwarfing other swings around Europe but trailing behind the 1,150ft high mechanical rides at the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Huub Zeeman/SWNS.com)

A hummingbird feeds on the nectar from a Mimosa tree in Saugus, Massachusetts on July 30, 2020. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Dalmatian pelicans on Lake Kerkini in Greece captured over the space of one week (16-21 January 2023) by tour guide photographer Sean Weekly. The Dalmatian pelicans resemble the winged dinosaur pterodactyl as they swoop, splash and feed in the waters of Lake Kerkini in Greece. With wings outstretched, and colourful faces and beaks on display, the birds appear to be in paradise, with the awe-inspiring Kerkini mountains as a mesmerising backdrop. (Photo by Sean Weekly/Animal News Agency)

China's Qinwen Zheng celebrates with fans after winning their second round match against Britain's Katie Boulter at the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 18, 2024. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

A sales assistant poses for photographs with a mealworm cookie in Seoul, South Korea, August 8, 2016. Insect-eating, or entomophagy, has long been common in much of the world, including South Korea, where boiled silky worm pupae, or beondegi, are a popular snack. Now, South Korea is looking to expand its insect industry as a source of agricultural income. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

American media personality and socialite Kylie Jenner (R) and her pal Yris Palmer brave the cold in a hot jacuzzi in the first decade of December 2022. (Photo by kyliejenner/Instagram)