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)
An anti-government protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask stands with a shield near flames from molotov cocktails thrown at a water cannon by anti-government protesters during riots in Caracas in this April 20, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)
Emily Ratajkowski and Vanessa Hudgens attend the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 09, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Couples take part in a competition during a mass wedding of 64 doctoral student couples at Harbin Institute of Technology, a university in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China, June 4, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)
Transgender Kendra Ferrari, 21, performs during Miss Night Queen beauty contest in Guatemala City, Friday, June 15, 2012. Ferrari won the pageant and will represent the transgender community for one year. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)
People take part in a traditional mid-summer solstice night celebration (Rasos Festival) at the Open-Air Museum of Lithuania in Rumsiskes, east of Kaunas, Lithuania, on late June 23, 2020. (Photo by Petras Malukas/AFP Photo)