When I was born, my parents immediately noticed something wrong. My feet were deformed  , pointing inward and curling under. I wore casts   and foot braces   in my first two years to correct the problem. Yet I learned to balance and walk in casts. Soon after the last set of casts came off,Mom enrolled me in dance classes as therapy for my feet. I, however,quickly decided to try something else. Not far from my house was an ice rink   in the mall. There,local skaters would perform ice shows. I wanted to try skating. I started taking group skating lessons. Performing on ice came naturally. For me,skating has never been about beating others. It's been about being my personal best. I progressed through various levels rapidly and gave my first ice performance at age seven. Soon I started winning local and regional competitions. That's because being on the ice has always been the one place I can truly express my emotions. _  I began seriously training when I was nine years old. After graduating from girls' high school,I moved to Canada. Saying goodbye to my family and friends made me homesick,but I knew deep down that I had to leave and train full-time to give my dreams a chance at reality. I went to compete in the Olympic Games in 1992.I was the first of the final six skaters on the ice. My long performance started well,but I slipped while landing one of my easiest triple jumps,and my hand touched the ice. I didn't want to make two mistakes in a row,so next I did a jump with just two spins to play it safe. As I neared the end,I had one more jump. I landed it perfectly. When medals were awarded,I found myself on the top step,the gold hanging around my neck and America's national anthem playing. Words can't describe the overwhelming mixture of emotions I felt. When the author says "The ice is like home",she really means she  _  .
can express herself through her performance on ice can beat others in local and regional competitions can overcome her difficulty in walking has realized her dream to perform on ice