A police officer holds a pistol during clashes with protesters near a burning tyre barricade in the Kariobangi slum of Nairobi, Kenya Friday, May 8, 2020. Hundreds of protesters blocked one of the capital's major highways with burning tires to protest government demolitions of the homes of more than 7,000 people and the closure of a major food market, causing many to sleep out in the rain and cold because of restrictions on movement due to the coronavirus. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

Sikh Nihang (Sikh warriors) perform “Gatka”, an ancient form of Sikh martial arts, during the “Nagar Kirtan” procession to mark the 339th birth anniversary of the Sikh warrior Shaheed Baba Deep Singh, in Amritsar on January 31, 2021. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo/Profimedia)

Boys pose with their toy guns as others play on swings, on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in the government-controlled district of Dwelaa in Damascus, Syria July 6, 2016. (Photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)

In collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Allegheny College art students repurpose used street signs as art materials to create the PennDOT Road Sign Sculpture Garden in Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA on August 19, 2017. (Photo by Brian Cahn/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman reacts as she uses a selfie stick to take a photo of herself at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Thursday, April 30, 2015. Selfie sticks are gaining popular in China, and many people are using them at popular tourist destinations. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

A Guarani boy pets a puppy in the Mata Verde Bonita village, in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Thursday, February 25, 2020, where healthcare workers are making the rounds with coolers containing doses of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine as part of a mass immunization program aimed at inoculating all of Rio's 16 million residents by the end of the year. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

Moscow riot police prepare to move on activists during an unsacnctioned anti-Putin opposition rally at the Pushkin Square March 5, 2012 in central Moscow, Russia. Amid charges of fraud, demonstrators took to the streets a day after Vladimir Putin declared victory in Russia's presidential elections. (Photos by: Rustem Adagamov; Source: LiveJournal; Gleb Shchelkunov; Source: LiveJournal; Ilya Varlamov; Source: LiveJournal; Raskalov; Source: LiveJournal; Dmitry Chistoprudov; Source: LiveJournal)

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)