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)

Transgender contestants run backstage before the final of the annual Miss Tiffany's Universe 2014 transvestite contest in the beach resort town of Pattaya, May 2, 2014. The contest aims to promote a positive image of transvestites. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A close up shows Ukraine's Hanna Ryzhykova leg breaking a hurdle before crashing out as she competes in the women's 400m hurdles heats during the European Athletics Championships at the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich on August 13, 2014. (Photo by Olivier Morin/AFP Photo)

A student uses a ruler to measure the distance between forks before a formal dinner at The International Butler Academy China on September 16, 2014 in Chengdu, China. Over the last several years, there has been a surge in demand among China's wealthy for Western-trained butlers, with many academies seeing large portions of their graduating classes hired by Chinese families or companies. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

A Filipino pet owner carries her dog as she prays before the animal blessing rites at the Our Lady of Remedies Parish Church in Malate district, Manila, Philippines on Sunday, October 5, 2014. Several Filipinos brought their pets to be blessed during the annual event which is also done to celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

Image patterning has existed for hundreds of years; however, before Thomas Yang no one has ever thought of putting paint on the bicycle wheels and using it as a patterning tool to create very interesting-looking pictures. Being an avid cyclist and an artist, Thomas Yang has decided to combine the two, creating the 100copies. The name of this project not only alludes to the fact that only one hundred copies of those pictures were going to be made, but also to the fact that the pictures themselves consist of hundreds of repeating shapes. And even though the project is called 100copies, no two pictures are alike due to the nature of their creation, making them truly unique. (Photo by Thomas Yang)

Why would you want to buy a Christmas tree if you have a luscious full beard? Or maybe you have a friend that is willing to volunteer? Just glue some ornaments onto his facial forest and make him stand in the corner. Just don’t forget to feed him! You don’t want your Christmas tree to go bad before the holidays are over! Stephanie Jarstad had created something similar in her project, The Twelve Bears of Christmas, in order to honor the Decembeard (much like Movember), in order to bring awareness to Men’s health problems. (Photo by Stephanie Jarstad)