Has Luck Run Out for The Lucky Nation of Australia?

For so long, New Zealanders and Brits have long envied the success of their Aussie counterparts when it comes to sport. They've always been the team to beat in any sport be it the more traditional sports like rugby or cricket to slightly more individual sports like triathlon, cycling, etc.

But in recent times, the aura of invincibility long built by the athletes from the lucky nation appears to have eroded away especially at home in the cricket where they've even lost to New Zealand in a test for the first time in 25 years.

Beating Australia now isn't such a big deal for New Zealand or the UK who have other countries in their sights. Australia appears to have become just another opponent.

Then there's the recent doping controversy that has taken professional sport in Australia by storm. Essendon, Cronulla & Manly are amongst the highest profile Aussie sports teams involved in what appears to have been a deeply rooted and long existent problem in Australian sport. One wonders how influential the doping doctors were in the success that Australian athletes enjoyed at the start of the millennium.

It appears that Australia has become a victim of its own success on and off the field. Australia's long dominance on the field has possibly resulted in a generation of athletes who think they can just walk on the field and win, and aren't required to graft and work hard for their victories like many of their predecessors.

Case in point - the Australian swimming team at the London Olympics. An air of arrogance amongst the athletes resulted in a lack of preparation, discipline and team spirit which ultimately destroyed the team's chances of having as successful an Olympics as before. In fact, London saw the worst performance by Australian athletes at the Olympics since Seoul 1988.

Another case in point - the once mighty Australian cricket team. The former undisputed no. 1 team in the world finds itself 2-0 down against India and hopelessly outclassed. 4 of its players have been dropped including the experienced Shane Watson. There have been stories of partying and drinking beyond protocol and it appears even the captain, Michael Clarke has lost control of the team.

The likes of Allan Border and Ian Thorpe must be shaking their heads at the shambles of the teams they created through hard work and graft over many years. The legacy that they built appears to have been ignored by Australia's latest breed of athletes, spoilt possibly the massive wealth of one of the most prosperous and successful countries in the world.

Sports teams often tend to strive in adverse conditions - the All Blacks possibly achieved their greatest moment amidst one of the most turbulent periods in New Zealand history. Perhaps, Australia's recent prosperity along with its recent history of success on the field has resulted in a team far softer than its predecessors.

Perhaps, luck has just run out for the luckiest nation in the world.