Sydney 2000. The Olympic debut for women’s water polo. Australia and the United States are level with two minutes on the clock. Nerves are running high. The tension at the Aquatics Centre is palpable. Suddenly, Australia go ahead – a gold medal is in sight. The Americans hit back, with just 13 seconds on the clock. A shoot-out beckons. Until, following an American foul, with barely a second remaining, Australia’s Yvette Higgins whirls a shot past the outstretched arms of the US goalkeeper. Gold!

It was one of the defining moments of the Sydney Olympics. Australia’s water polo team, the Stingers, have never returned to such exhilarating heights. Since winning the inaugural Olympic gold medal in the sport, the Australians have twice won bronze, in 2008 and 2012. But in recent years, they have been a long way from repeating that iconic victory – failing to progress beyond the quarter-finals in the past two Games.

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It seemed fitting then that on Thursday, in Paris, it was again the Americans standing between the Stingers and a shot at glory. Following an exhilarating clash at La Défense Arena, Australia beat the USA on sudden-death penalties in the second water polo semi-final of the day, to set up a gold medal clash with Spain on Saturday. Twenty-four years on from Sydney, the Stingers will again play for the Olympic crown.

The Australians were undefeated in the pool so far at these Games – winning all four group stage encounters (two on penalties), before defeating Greece in the quarter-finals. The USA have had a less straightforward path to the medal rounds, losing to Spain in the group stage and needing to battle to overcome Hungary by a lone goal.

But the Americans started strongly and soon had the Stingers on the ropes, opening the scoring a few minutes in with a successful penalty shot from Madeline Musselman. Her teammate Jenna Flynn doubled the advantage later in the first quarter, before Charlize Andrews scored Australia’s first in the dying seconds.

In the second quarter, the Americans went on a charge – unanswered goals from Musselman, Emily Ausmus and Jovana Sekulic gave the USA a hefty advantage at the half-time break. But the Stingers came flying back in a thrilling third quarter, Abby Andrews adding three goals for Australia to tie the game, followed by a fourth to hit back after the Americans had staunched the shifting momentum with a goal from Flynn. The game looked finely balanced with seconds left in the third, before Maggie Steffens gave the USA a slender advantage going into the final break.

The flurry of goals in the third set up an exciting last eight minutes of action. It continued at the start of the fourth: the Americans scored through Rachel Fattal, before Bronte Harrigan brought the deficit back to one goal for Australia.

With four minutes remaining, the Stingers called a time-out. They calmed themselves and took instructions from coach Rebecca Rippon. It soon paid off: a minute later Halligan equalised. An American shot was saved by the post. Following a final time-out, the American offensive possession was unsuccessful. It was one last chance for Australia, to avert another penalty shoot-out. After some final words of wisdom from Rippon, the Stingers advanced the ball – but could not find the goal with their final attempt. There would be no repeat of the last-gasp winner at the 2000 Olympics. The clash would be determined by penalties.

The shoot-out proceeded at pace. One-one. Two-two. Three-three. Four-four. Five-five. It was now sudden-death. Australia’s Zoe Arancini scored the Stingers’ sixth. USA’s Musselman swam to the mark. She fired – and an instinctive reaction from Gabriella Palm got a hand to the shot and it deflected wide.

“That just shows exactly who we are as a team,” said Stingers centre-forward Matilda Kearns afterwards. “We have a saying: last man standing. Every single game throughout the whole Olympics – that’s our third penalty shootout in seven games, in just this Olympics alone, and we’ve come out on the winning side of every single one of those. It’s a testament to us, how we work under pressure, how we play for each other. We believe that we can get the job done.”

Before Thursday night, in the history of women’s water polo these two nations had played each other 54 times. The Americans had won 40; the Stingers just 12, with two draws. Australia faced an uphill battle on Thursday, and trailed until the final quarter. But after overcoming the Americans in the shoot-out, the Stingers will play for gold, 24 years after the thriller in Sydney.