We were pros back when the world was just playing games Then, in 1956, Australia held the first Olympics in the southern hemisphere, coming third in the medals table with 13 golds, thrashing everyone in the swimming pool and unearthing a world-beating sprinter in 18-year-old Betty Cuthbert. Live cameras captured every glorious moment and the nation bonded in front of the TV in a way that hadn't been possible until that moment. At the same time the nation's greatest golfer, Peter Thomson, won the British Open an unprecedented four times and over subsequent decades Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe dominated the tennis circuit. And then in 1983 came the turning point, according to former prime minister Bob Hawke, when we became the first nation to beat the US in the America's Cup yacht race. We were no longer a small country - we could beat the best. Australia wasn't just a British convict colony full of jovial losers. It had an identity, and entwined within it was an urge to conquer sport in a manner that our British masters once sought to build an empire. Sport came to define the nation's standing within the world. Athletic competition became the focus of everyday life - suburbs and country towns put playing fields at the heart of their communities. More importantly, while other countries treated sport as a pastime, Australia viewed it as a business. We sought out the world's best coaches and ploughed money into sports science. We created academies, scholarships and institutes, used cutting-edge technology to improve performance and utilised the skills of psychologists, physios and nutritionists. We were professionals while everyone else was still just playing games. Soon our sporting prowess became the thing the world knew us for. Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe, David Campese, Lleyton Hewitt, Greg Norman and Shane Warne gave the world the impression that we bred sporting gods who crushed all before them. Since then a seismic change in Australian society has occurred. It is now one of the world's richest countries, and that great personal wealth has seen the nation not only gentrify, but fracture, too. People don't congregate around sporting clubs like they used to - there are too many other things to do. Ambition resides more in the boardroom than the changing room. The Australian suburbs were so isolated that sport was virtually the only distraction. Now they're pockmarked by shopping centres and defined by consumerism. Enormous backyards where children emulated their heroes have shrunk to make way for barbecues and designer decking. The weekends that were once devoted to sport - children would play in the morning, parents in the afternoon - are now more about dance lessons, language schools, brunches and visiting family members who live hours away. Ironically, there's never been more sport on TV. Soccer, Australian-rules football, rugby and cricket are constantly on, and people are watching instead of playing. Then there is the changing ethnicity of Australia. Despite the fact that immigrants without visas can find themselves deported to Papua New Guinea, Australia's population is highly multicultural. Not everyone sees sport as a way to express themselves or achieve acceptance. So mock us if you must. Those golden sporting eras may be long gone but, arguably, we have more to be proud of than ever. We've had our first female prime minister. The country is coughing up billions of dollars in natural resources. We are no longer the backwater that needs to prove itself through physical exertion. Sport is still a part of our national identity - it's just that these days we prefer to experience it from the comfort of the sofa. Jarrod Kimber is a writer for ESPNcricinfo