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)

“We take rusty old junk and we put love into it”. The old Motor City has a unique style in bicycles these days: from fat wheels and fake fuel tanks to stretched cycles with powerful sound systems – and even a family-sized BBQ. “Detroit’s custom bike scene developed alongside Slow Roll, a weekly cycle ride started in 2010 by Jason Hall and Mike MacKool. Now upwards of 2,000 people turn up each Monday to cruise a different part of the city. The week I go the crowd seems evenly split between black and white, male and female, city and suburbs. It’s the most inclusive cycle event I’ve ever witnessed”. (Photo by Jason Walker/Slow Roll Monday Nights)

These eye-catching photographs capture the special relationship between a group of farmers and elephants – with a gorgeous sunset in the background. Vithun Khamsong, a civil engineer, shot the images earlier this year while visiting Surin, Thailand. (Photo by Vithun Khamsong/Caters News Agency)

“I was doing some event shooting for Bar One's Beer And Wine garden. I was working with these two ladies when all of a sudden I hear an "excuse me” and I see dude step into the frame right when I pressed the shutter button!” (Photo by 17thletter Photography)

British television presenter Maya Jama at “Love Island All: Stars” TV show in London, United Kingdom on December 16, 2023. (Photo by ITV/Love Island/Rex Features/Shutterstock)