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 aircraft passes over houses at it lands at Heathrow Airport near London, Britain, December 11, 2015. Picture taken December 11, 2015. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

Cosplayers dressed as a Battle Sister and an Ultramarine from Warhammer 40,000 pose during Los Angeles Comic Con at Los Angeles Convention Center on December 03, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)

Ryon Healy #25 of the Oakland Athletics is covered in water by Adam Rosales #16 after he hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Oakland Alameda Coliseum on May 7, 2017 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

An aerial view of Charyn Canyon located about 200 kilometers east of Almaty city in Kazakhstan on September 22, 2024. The canyon, visited by more than 50,000 people each year, was placed under protection in 1964 and became part of the Charyn National Park, established on February 23, 2004. (Photo by Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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)

Devotees pour water on a revered Bodhi tree at Shwedagon Pagoda to mark Buddha's Birthday, which falls on the Full Moon Day of Kasone, in Yangon on May 11, 2025. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)

The coendou porcupine couple 'Joppi' (L) and 'Fletcher' nibble at a vegetables in their enclosure at the zoo in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 03 December 2015. Coendou porcupines are nocturnal rodents related to porcupines and guinea pigs and native to the rain forests of Central and South America as well as Trinidad. (Photo by Arne Dedert/EPA)