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)

Flemish Minister President Jan Jambon pictured in the Danish pavilion during the official opening of the Belgian pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale – La Biennale di Venezia, International Art Exhibition, Thursday 21 April 2022, in Venice, Italy, Thursday 21 April 2022. Belgian artist Alys will present “The Nature of the Game”, an exhibition that will reveal a selection of films and a series of paintings. (Photo by James Arthur Gekiere/Belga Mag/Belga via AFP Photo)

In the mangrove swamps of Quang Lang in Vietnam fishermen use stilts to take them into the deeper water on December 18, 2021. (Photo by Bang Nguyen Trong/Solent News)

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)

Nico Martin with a Mini Electric wrapped in thousands of Christmas fairy lights, at Greenfield Farm in Christmas Common, Oxfordshire on November 9, 2021. Nico, from Bracknell in Berkshire, has wrapped his own Mini in lights for the last two years, raising money for the MS Trust and for Duchenne UK. This year Mini are supporting Nico, providing him with a Mini Electric wrapped in thousands of Christmas lights ready for him to take out on the road. (Photo by Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)

Morocco player Yassine Bounou's son, Isaac, plays on the pitch after the country's World Cup win against Portugal at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar on December 10, 2022. (Photo by Carl Recine/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)

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)