President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday no athlete would face discrimination at next month's Winter Olympics, hoping to ease international concern over a Russian law banning gay "propaganda". Aware that the success or failure of the Sochi Games will help shape his legacy, Putin has closely identified himself with the $50-billion event which opens on February 7. Putin outraged many in the West last year by signing a law banning the spread of homosexual "propaganda" among minors. Critics say the law is discriminatory and aimed at stifling dissent but calls for a boycott of the Games have failed.