It was an Olympic scene like so many other celebrations by medal winners: fist-pumping, broad smiles, embraces. Except this team was from South Africa, and its members were both white and black.

The images of John Smith, a white rower, throwing his arms around black teammate Sizwe Ndlovu after their four-man crew won the gold Thursday in men's lightweight four rowing shows how far this country — once banned from the Olympics because of its apartheid government — has come. After the South Africans edged a British crew by 0.25 seconds, Ndlovu leaped into the arms of each of his crew.

Back home, national pride is superseding lingering racial divisions as South Africans cheer on their Olympic athletes and their (so far) three gold medals. One black woman in Johannesburg describes watching on TV as white South African Chad le Clos challenged Michael Phelps in the 200-meter butterfly and beat the American champion by five-hundredths of a second for the gold medal.

"I stood up from my chair and I was shouting, 'Go! Go!," Mary Jane Maharana says.

Eighteen years after white rule collapsed in South Africa, racial tensions still exist. Unemployment is high and the economy is controlled mostly by whites. Nelson Mandela's efforts to unify South Africa under its Springboks rugby team during the 1995 World Cup notwithstanding, whites generally follow rugby and blacks tend to prefer soccer.

But these days, the Olympics are helping South Africans root together. Consider this statement by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, reported by the South African Press Association: "We are proud of the four young rowers who made our flag to rise above all and our national anthem to be sung louder."

— Andrew O. Selsky in Johannesburg — Twitter http://twitter.com/andrewselsky

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EDITOR'S NOTE — "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.