Sergey Syrtsov made the Soviet national team in 1987 and débuted internationally at the 1989 World Championships, where he won silver as a middle-heavyweight. In 1991 he bettered this feat, winning the World middle-heavyweight title and went to the 1992 Olympics as a clear favorite for the Olympic middle-heavyweight gold. At the Olympics, however, Syrtsov was upset by teammate Akakios Kakiasvili, who lifted the same result as Syrtsov (412.5 kg), but was awarded the gold medal due to a lighter bodyweight. After the Olympics Syrtsov switched to sub-heavyweight class but, at the next major championships, the 1993 World Championships, he again lost the gold medal due to a heavier bodyweight, this time to teammate Viktor Tregubov. In 1994 Syrtsov won the World sub-heavyweight title, but also missed the World title in 1995 due to heavier bodyweight, again losing to Kakiasvili. After the 1995 World Championships Syrtsov switched weight classes again, this time to heavyweight, and won another Olympic silver in that class in 1996. At the European Championships Syrtsov won two titles, in 1994 in sub-heavyweight and in 1995 in heavyweight, and one silver in 1989 in middle-heavyweight. He was also twice Soviet champion in middle-heavyweight in 1989 and 1991. During his career Syrtsov set seven sub-heavyweight world records, two in the snatch, two in the clean & jerk, and three in the total, all of them in 1994.
Syrtsov retired from sports after the 1996 Olympics and began working as a weightlifting coach in Moscow. From 2002-10 Syrtsov was head coach of the Russian junior national weightlifting team and in April 2010 he became president of the Russian Weightlifting Federation.