Nancy Kerrigan reveals Tonya Harding never apologized for Olympic attack that nearly ended her career in remarkably candid interview

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Nancy Kerrigan got shockingly candid in an interview with Nightline on Thursday, with the typically tight-lipped ice queen spilling secrets about her figure skating career and the now infamous incident in 1994 that almost ended her time in the rink. 

The 47-year-old, who is currently in pursuit of some more hardware for her trophy case on the ABC show 'Dancing With the Stars,' also answered the one question millions have wanted to know the answer to for the past 23 years.

'Do you feel like there has been an apology [from Tonya Harding]?' asked anchor Juju Chang. 

'I don't know. We talked. We were at an event four years after I was attacked. But we didn't really speak to each other. So it was very awkward and strange,' responded Kerrigan, once again trying to skirt the question. 

Chang then pressed Kerrigan to answer the question, at which point she revealed that Harding had never directly apologized for the attack.

The Olympic medalist then quickly followed up her admission with a question of her own, asking Chang: 'Does it matter?

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Opening up: Nancy Kerrigan, 47, reveals in a new interview that Tonya Harding never apologized to her directly for the attack on her at the 1994 US Championship (Kerrigan above)

A no-nonsense Nancy: Kerrigan revealed why she started screaming 'why' after the attack, saying: 'I think it's a reasonable question, frankly'

Plan: It was later revealed that a man was hired by Harding's bodyguard and husband Jeff Gillooly to injure Kerrigan badly enough to keep her out of the Olympics (Kerrigan and Harding above at a practice session in Lillehammer)

Harding has claimed multiple times over the years that she apologized repeatedly to Kerrigan, and still speaks about her competitor as if she were the villain over two decades after the attack.

Kerrigan meanwhile never really spoke about the incident until an NBC documentary was made about the incident ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

She was still quite guarded in that video, while Harding was an open book as she spoke about the abuse she suffered from her mother and later her husband Jeff Gillooly as well as the difficulties she had being an underprivileged child in the world of figure skating.

Harding has continued to downplay her involvement in the attack over the years, which was captured on video at the time.

She also told Oprah back in 2009 that she wanted to make amends with Kerrigan, saying: 'Well, if she'd let me, I'd love to give her a hug. And just, you know, tell her how proud I am of her being able to, you know, go forward with her life.' 

Kerrigan spoke about that video of the attack to 'Nightline', which showed her clutching her knee and wailing 'WHY' as a crowd quickly rushed to attend to her.

'So you said why,' said Chang to Kerrigan, who has also shied away from ever taking about that moment. 

'I think it's a reasonable question, frankly,' replied Kerrigan.

'Like people made such a big deal and almost like complaining, like why would I say that? But I think it's a reasonable question.'

Kerrigan would go on to make a miraculous recovery and earn a spot on the Olympic team, skating her way to a silver medal.

And despite that feat and those two Olympic medals as well as her sustained career of excellence in the remarably challenging sport, Chang said at one point in the interview: 'What did you say to people who thought, well, you're only famous because of the notoriety of the attack?'

Kerrigan was already one of the most famous figure skaters in history before the attack thanks to the fact that she came up at a time when the United States had three of the world's best figure skaters in herself, Harding and Kristi Yamiguchi, who won gold at the 1992 Olympic Games.

A befuddled Kerrigan answered Chang's question with an appropriate response, saying: 'I don't know that anyone says that. Because I have two Olympic medals. Like. they didn't just give them to me. I mean, I worked hard for it.'

Ice queens: Kerrigan and Harding stayed apart during their practice sessions prior to the Olympic Games

Tears of a clown: The plan to keep Kerrigan out of the 1994 Games failed, and Harding finished well out of medal contention, placing 8th overall after the free skate

It was only years after the incident however that Kerrigan came to realize she was not only fighting a knee injury, but also an eating disorder that was spiraling out of of hand and caused her to lose 15 pounds from her already skeletal frame in the two months prior to the Games.

'After being attacked, I was being followed around by camera crews and everybody wherever I went, to the training, to the pool,' said Kerrigan. 

'I guess something I didn't pay attention to a lot for a while, that I was not eating and training.'

She also said that monitoring her diet proved to be a point of calm amidst the chaos. 

'My world was completely out of control. It was crazy. So at the time I do feel like that was something I could control,' explained Kerrigan. 

'But the problem with eating disorders I think it starts to really control you. And it became difficult for me to eat more. It was actually hard and almost like intimidating I think.'

Skating on thin ice: Harding was later banned from the sport for her role in the attack (above in court one month after the 1994 Olympics)

That massive weight loss in the middle of an international media circus makes it difficult for Kerrigan to look back on those days.

'It's sad. Because I mean, it's almost like somebody else at this point,' said Kerrigan.

She hung up her skates soon after the 1994 Games, while Harding has not skated competitively in 23 years.

Harding was taken off the ice that same year, after admitting in court to knowing about her ex-husband's plot to try and break the leg of Kerrigan in a bid to keep her from participating in the 1994 Winter Olympics. 

The 46-year-old would then later backtrack on her court admission. 

Harding arrived on the figure skating scene in a big way in the late 1980s, which all culminated in her first place finish at the 1991 US Figure Skating Championship.

It was that same year that Harding made history by becoming the first woman to complete a triple axel in the short program.

Her skating did not have the grace that many others had at the time, but she was considered one of the most powerful jumpers to ever compete.

The following year her success continued when she finished in fourth place at the Winter Olympics, behind Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States, Midori Ito of Japan and Nancy Kerrigan.

Yamaguchi retired soon after which made Harding's biggest rival in the sport Kerrigan.

Then, just before the two were set to compete in the 1994 Olympics, Kerrigan was clubbed in the knee as she left a practice facility.

Muscle and mastermind: Shane Stant (left in court in 1994) carried out he attack which was planned by Harding's husband Jeff Gillooly (right in court in 1994)

Wolf in synthetic fibers:Harding admitted that she failed to tell authorities what she knew about the attack prior to the Olympics (above in  January 1994) 

Kerrigan had been practicing for the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit on the day when she was attacked by the mystery man, who was later revealed to be Shane Stant.

Authorities were able to soon learn that Stant had been hired by Gilloly and Harding's bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt to break Kerrigan's leg so she could not compete at the Olympics.

National treasure: Kerrigan looks better than ever at 47

Harding initially denied having any knowledge of the situation and in the end Kerrigan recovered and won Silver at the Lillehammer Games, while Harding finished in eighth and left the sport in disgrace. 

In March of that year, Harding pleaded guilty to conspiring to hinder prosecution of the attackers and was put on probation and ordered to perform community service.

Soon after, Harding was stripped her of her 1994 US Championship title and banned from participating in US Figure Skating Association events as either a skater or a coach for the rest of her life.

In a 2014 interview, Kerrigan said that at the time she really wanted to believe Harding was not involved in the bizarre plot to destroy her career.

'I truly wanted to believe that she had nothing to do with it at all,' the 44-year-old said on Morning Joe.

'Because how could that seem possible that someone you know, I mean we were competitors, but... we were friendly. So to think that anyone you know would deliberately try to hurt you, yeah, it's too bizarre to understand.'

She later spoke abut how she was left in a complete state of disbelief.

'I can remember saying even to the FBI, "Well, maybe Tonya really didn't know. Maybe they did it for her."' she recalled.

'And they're like, "Nancy, we can't prove it, but we think she was the mastermind of the whole thing."'

At that point, she said she felt 'disappointment, sadness.' And while Harding still denies having any role, Kerrigan said she doesn't believe her.

It's raining men: Kerrigan has been back in the spotlight ever since joining the cast of 'Dancing With the Stars' (above)

Caged no more: Kerrigan is currently in the running to take home the top prize on 'Dancing With the Stars'

'Why would the people around her want to hurt me? What did they have to gain? I guess she's the only one who really had anything to gain. And I was told "I know we can't prove it but we're telling you. She did." I hated hearing it. It stinks. It's sad on so many levels,' said Kerrigan.

When asked if she had forgiven Harding for what happened, she said she did not think about it much, especially since she is now a busy mom-of-three.

'I don't know. I don't think about it really. When I read transcripts from the FBI, they planned to kill me at one point. That was one of the options. To kill me over a sporting event. That's crazy,' she said.

'There were all these other brutal options that they were thinking about doing to me. I've moved on i don't think about it as forgiveness. I just hope she's happy... and can be able to move on.'

Despite all that stress and drama however, Kerrigan said her kids are chasing their Olympic dreams.

The mother of a son and daughter both under the age of 10 said in her interview on Monday:  'For most kids when they say mom, I want to go to the Olympics, you're like oh, no. I mean, but they also have a little distorted view, I think. 

'Like my mom did it, how hard can it be? Mom's done it, she did it twice.'