When a fighter in any discipline loses for the first time, doubt can creep in their mind, and they second guess everything, leading to vulnerability. Gable instead got better, easily winning the World Wrestling Championship in Bulgaria that summer, and at the 1972 Munich Olympics, he won Gold in the 68 kg class without surrendering a point.
Gable later became a successful wrestling coach at Iowa State, where from 1976 to 1997, he had a record of 355-21-5 and won 15 NCAA national wrestling team championships.