AUSTRALIANS are terrible losers.

It is their fiercely competitive spirit which makes them such daunting opponents on the field of sport.

Australians are also terrible winners.

It is not enough for them to celebrate their victories. Aussie supporters and stars seem to regard sporting triumphs as chances to needle their vanquished foe with a form of boorish arrogance which too often crosses the line dividing banter from bullying.

Few countries take sport as seriously as Australia. Since the cricket ball tampering incidents were exposed the nation has been locked in an existential crisis. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this week spoke for a country "shocked" "disappointed" and "devasted" by the sight of cricketers rubbing sandpaper on a leather ball. Would sporting cheats in any other country or in any other sport be treated to such a public shaming as former captain Steve Smith, who wept as he apologised for bringing shame to a nation which welds sporting glory to its sense of self-worth?

Even the disgraced Lance Armstrong, who for years conned fans, charities, cancer battlers and businesses around the world, didn’t look as contrite and utterly broken as Smith did on Thursday.

Smith, Australian cricket, and the nation’s pride will no doubt regain their swagger. But the upheaval of the past week will leave scars that will take a long time to heal. Time will tell if this most shattering of losses will be sufficient to dent Aussie self-belief for good, or silence the over-the-top sledging and holier-than-thou attitude which has marred some of their recent sporting triumphs.   

It has been painful for Australia to admit that its sporting heroes are as susceptible to the temptations of gaining an unfair advantage as American sprinters, Russian curlers or even British cyclists.

All nations are plagued by sporting cheats. It is to the credit of Australia that when its wrongdoing was finally unmasked it treated the matter so seriously. That is what a proper sports-mad country should do.