There's nothing a mother loves more than a phone call from her son.

For Nola Shewfelt, mother of Canada's newest sporting hero, yesterday's call was just a little more special than most.

"This morning (Kyle) phoned and I said, 'Oh, am I talking to the Olympic champion?' And he goes, 'Yes,' " Nola Shewfelt said, moments after she and husband Wes watched her son finish fourth yesterday in the individual vault final and before a judging controversy broke.

They have had little contact with their son since he became the first Canadian in history to win an artistic gymnastics medal, but they still were basking in the glow of the 22-year-old's achievement.

"I can't describe it," Nola Shewfelt said of watching Sunday's performance and medal ceremony. "We were so proud and so excited. We know how hard he'd worked for it and he really, really deserved it.

"We want to get home and watch the tape because everything happened so fast."

While Shewfelt's family can't wait to a catch of glimpse of his gold, the mere sight of it might have rattled Coquitlam, B.C., gymnast Kate Richardson.

The 20-year-old wouldn't touch Shewfelt's medal when he showed it to the women's gymnastic team, preferring to go for her own yesterday in the individual floor event. She finished seventh and admitted afterward she might have looked too far ahead.

"I was thinking about it all day and visualizing and imagining what (winning a medal) would be like," she said. "Maybe I got myself a bit too excited, too set on getting a medal.

"I really convinced myself that it was possible to do it and I thought it was. I mean, it could have been, but I did have a great moment out there."

Richardson's seventh place is the best individual finish by a Canadian female gymnast in the Olympic artistic events since Kelly Brown finished sixth in the vault in 1984.