How Fortunato Franco met Cassius Clay at the Olympics

I was so fortunate to go to Rome for the Olympics in 1960. But in Rome, I met an athlete who would change the way the world looked at sportspersons.
We were hanging around at the Games Village entertainment zone where music was played and many athletes were dancing. We were not allowed to dance by our coach SA Rahim.
After a while, a black athlete walked towards the Indian team and asked us to join in the fun and dance.We told him that we were not allowed.
Before the athlete walked back to rejoin the dancing group, we decided to introduce ourselves. I shook hands with him and said ‘I am Fortunato Franco and I am a football player from India’.
The black athlete took my hand and then said, ‘I am Cassius Clay, I am a boxer from USA’.
Little did we know that the young man, all of 20, would go on to become one of the most influential athlete of the twentieth century.
(As previously told to V.Anand)