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)

Mary Hickey poses with her collection of dolls at her home in Ashbourne, Ireland October 9, 2013. Hickey has been collecting the dolls for over thirty years and now owns over 420 dolls. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

Dancers wait at backstage as they prepare for a dance performance during the Bali Arts Festival in Bali, Indonesia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. The resort island of Bali is holding a month-long annual Bali Arts Festival from June 10 to July 8. (Photo by Firdia Lisnawati/AP Photo)

A Great White Pelicans eats fish in the Mishmar HaSharon reservoir, Israel, Wednesday, November 4, 2015. Thousands of Pelicans stop in the reservoir for food provided by the Israeli nature reserves authority as they make their way to Africa. (Photo by Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)

Tourists pose for a selfie in Cancun, October 13, 2015. Cancun's transformation in the 1970s from a small Caribbean fishing village into a strip of nightclubs and high-rise hotels has reduced biodiversity and polluted water resources as infrastructure struggles to keep up. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Residents with faces covered in ash ride on a motorcycle as Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, in Sukandebi village in Karo Regency, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, Indonesia June 13, 2015, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Rony Muharrman/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A protester jumps on the table in front of the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany April 15, 2015. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

A paper rhacophorus arvalis (farmland green tree frog) of Taiwan (R) is surrounded by paper pandas at an exhibition called “Pandas on Tour” at the National Theater in Taipei on February 24, 2014. Some 1,600 paper made pandas are on display, designed by French artist Paulo Grangeon. (Photo by Mandy Cheng/AFP Photo)