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 leopard runs to at people as they run for cover in Katmandu, Nepal, on April 10, 2013. According to reports, 15 people were injured including three policemen and two officials from the Department of Forest. The leopard was later killed with the help of Nepalese policemen and local media. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press)

ATTENTION: VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY AND DEATH

A participant has his body painted before a regional bodybuilding championship in Stavropol, southern Russia, April 10, 2016. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

A model poses for a portrait backstage during Dakar Fashion Week July 10, 2011. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

A vendor holds a fried spider along a street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, April 10, 2017. (Photo by Samrang Pring/Reuters)

A woman plays with her three dogs at the beach after sunset in Del Mar, California, USA on November 10, 2017. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

A tourist train is decorated with Christmas lights in Bogotá, Colombia on December 10, 2017. (Photo by Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters)

Two cocks are trained for a fight in a village in Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand January 10, 2017. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)