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 22-year-old woman in a wedding gown is grabbed by Guo Zhongfan, a local community officer, as she attempts to kill herself by jumping out of a seven-storey residential building in Changchun, Jilin province. According to local media, the woman tried to commit suicide after her boyfriend of four years broke up with her, just as they were making plans to get married. The woman did not sustain any injuries during the incident. (Photo by China Daily/Reuters)

Aldi SugandaRizal (2 years-old) smoking a cigarette while playing at the family home in Sekayu district, South Sumatera, Indonesia on May 23, 2010. (Photo by Ardiles Rante/Barcroft Media)

An American flag is visible in the windows of the cupola aboard the International Space Station. Thanks to a bill passed by Texas legislators in 1997 that put in place technical voting procedure for astronauts – nearly all of whom live in Texas – they have the ability to vote from space through specially designed absentee ballots. To preserve the integrity of the secret vote, the ballot is encrypted and only accessible by the astronaut and the county clerk responsible for casting the ballot. (Photo by NASA)

A Pakistani farmer guides his bulls as he competes in a traditional bull race in Khunda village in the northwestern district of Attock, some 80 kilometers from Islamabad on January 3, 2015. Tens of thousands of people gather whenever there is a bull race held in Pakistan which are usually the highlight of festivals organized in rural areas of the Asian country, and attract lots of spectators due to their thrilling nature. The traditional competition attracts landlords and farmers from all around the province where the race is held, and they all bring their fastest and strongest bulls in hopes of gaining a reputation. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

A competitor walks on tightrope during a performance in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China, May 7, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

U.S. Army soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment deployed to Combat Outpost Sabari, Afghanistan scan their area as they begin a multi-day air assault mission near the Pakistani border of eastern Afghanistan's Khost province May 2, 2012. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua L. DeMotts/U.S. Air Force)

A brown bear is checked by foreign veterinaries and local staff members at the Four Paws Bear Sanctuary in Pristina, on May 9, 2014. (Photo by Hazir Reka/Reuters)