"The modern confession is not to a priest or a loved one in private. No. The modern confession demands an exclusive TV or newspaper interview, usually accompanied by tears and a promise to reform. The reformation often takes the form of a book for which, of course, a publisher will pay a hefty fee and a film of his or her life story. The fallen star will then appear in reality shows for the rest of his or her life, or as the villain in panto.

It’s all one big show, which is why we can’t take much of what Lance Armstrong said to Oprah Winfrey at face value. He is a liar, a cheat and a bully. That much he has admitted. He is the embodiment of all of sport’s ills, which is why a lifetime ban from elite sport is the only punishment that fits the crime. He calls it a ‘death penalty’. To a man who can only define himself by sporting achievement, I am sure that’s how it feels. But it’s not.

Armstrong is still alive and he is, for now, a wealthy man. That he still feels he is entitled to compete when he has so calculatedly, consistently and aggressively shattered the premise of sporting endeavour is beyond comprehension.

“I think I deserve it,” he told Oprah. Lance, believe me, you deserve nothing, absolutely nothing, from sport. The lives you ruined, the morals you murdered, the money you stole and the glory you robbed from others condemn you to a life without competition. For the rest of us, what have we learnt from the fall of a sporting hero? The story reminds me of a Greek myth. Indeed the Greeks have a word for it, hubris: overbearing pride or presumption.

Clare Balding: “Lance Armstrong, you deserve nothing”