CBC's Andrew Chang in Rio: Inside the gruelling sport of gymnastics

"It's gymnastics."

It's the reply you'll sometimes get when you ask gymnasts "what happened?" — after they fell from an apparatus. It's what Halifax's Ellie Black said to me when I asked her about her performance yesterday, and what the American men's captain, Chris Brooks, said after watching his teammate fall today.

• CBC's Andrew Chang shares his Rio experiences

Team USA had qualified for the team competition final in 2nd place — seemingly on fire.

They just needed to hold the momentum and keep it together, and they wanted a team medal badly. All five members of their team were in London when the American team placed fifth.

It's gymnastics — sometimes it doesn't go your way, sometimes you need a little bit of luck.- Danell Leyva

They've been beaten by China and Japan in every Olympics and World Championships since 2005.

"We don't go into this competition expecting anything but greatness, essentially," USA's Sam Mikulak said before the competition. "We're training to be the best in the world."

But in the actual final, disaster struck for the Americans who were within striking distance of a medal.

Danell Leyva was the last one up on horizontal bar, but it wasn't meant to be.

He lost his grip; simple as that.

Fifth in the world is still pretty good. But as Leyva said afterwards; "It's gymnastics — sometimes it doesn't go your way, sometimes you need a little bit of luck."