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)

Devotees whirl their head as a ritualistic performance during the annual Jhiri Fair at Kanachack village, outskirts of Jammu, India, Monday, November14, 2016. According to the villagers, the fair is held in memory of Baba Jitu, an honest farmer who killed himself since he was not prepared to submit to the unjust demands of a landlord who wanted him to part with his crop. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

28 year old Rupa has her hair shaven to donate to the Gods at the Thiruthani Murugan Temple November 10, 2016 in Thiruttani, India. Rupa donated her hair with the wish that her daughter's illness is cured. The process of shaving ones hair and donating it to the Gods is known as tonsuring. It is common for Hindu believers to tonsure their hair at a temple as a young child, and also to celebrate a wish coming true, such as the birth of a baby or the curing of an illness. The “temple hair”, as it's known, is then auctioned off to a processing plant and then sold as pricey wigs and weaves in the US, Europe and Africa. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

A man dressed as a bear and wearing a protective face mask amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) stands in front of a fountain in central Kyiv, Ukraine on August 11, 2020. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

Volunteers carry an idol of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, in a pond for its immersion during the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India, September 18, 2015. During the festival, the idols will be taken through the streets in a procession accompanied by dancing and singing, and will be immersed in a river or the sea in accordance with the Hindu faith. (Photo by Shailesh Andrade/Reuters)

A Palestinian clown wearing a face mask while entertaining children at their home during the lockdown after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza Strip on November 18, 2020. (Photo by Mahmoud Issa/Quds Net News/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A Ukrainian MSLR BM-21 “Grad” fires towards Russian positions, near Bakhmut at the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 21, 2023. (Photo by Iryna Rybakova via AP Photo)

Palestinians flee from their neighbourhood in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, Saturday, December 2, 2023. (Photo by Fatima Shbair/AP Photo)