Footscray athlete Josh Hose and his Australian Steelers teammates have secured a dramatic win over arch-rival the US to collect back-to-back Paralympics gold medals.
The wheelchair rugby gold came from a 59-58 double-overtime win in Rio in front of a record crowd of 12,500 in the early hours of Monday morning.
The bitter rivals were locked at 12-12 after the first quarter, 37-37 after three quarters and 49-49 at the end of regular time.
The sides were 54 apiece at the end of the first overtime period, with Australia edging home by a point in the second overtime period with seconds to spare.
The match was the last across all sports at the Rio Games and followed gold for Hose and the Steelers at the 2012 London Paralympics.
Australia had never beaten the US at a Paralympic Games or world championships. Australia has become the first nation to win two Paralympic gold medals and a world championship in a four-year period.
Hose, 29, sustained quadriplegia in a car accident on Australia Day in 2005.
He made his national wheelchair rugby debut in 2009 after being inspired to take up the sport when he watched matches at the 2008 summer Paralympics in Beijing.
