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)

Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Bottlenose dolphins swim over visitors in water tank at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, July 21, 2015. Temperatures in Tokyo's metropolitan area neared around 96 degree Fahrenheit, or 35 degree Celsius, on Tuesday. (Photo by Shuji Kajiyama/AP Photo)

A groundskeeper uses a bamboo broom at Kasumigaike Pond at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, Japan on January 12, 2016. The japanese garden, located next to Kanazawa Castle, encompasses over 28 acres in downtown Kanazawa. With two ponds, rolling hills with streams and bridges, is considered a strolling-style landscape garden. It's regarded as one of the top three most beautiful gardens in Japan. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

An Indian villager walks back home with a bicycle loaded with grass for his cattle during a heavy downpour on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, India, Saturday, 11 July 2015. (Photo by Biswaranjan Rout/AP Photo)

The Elf on the Shelf balloon floats down Sixth Avenue during the 88th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York November 27, 2014. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A woman poses on the flooded St. Mark's square during an acqua-alta (high-water) alert in Venice, on November 19, 2013. (Photo by Andrea Pattaro/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Police fire rubber bullets as they help an Atletico Paranaense fan during clashes between Vasco da Gama soccer fans and Atletico Paranaense fans at their Brazilian championship match in Joinville in Santa Catarina, on December 8, 2013. Dozens of fans fought a savage battle on the terraces at the match on Sunday, interrupting play for more than one hour and leaving at least three people reportedly in serious condition. (Photo by Carlos Moraes/Agência O DIA)