[2] During the men's competition, Polívka made a disastrous start, with a disappointing score in one-touch épée fencing, but managed to keep his pace in swimming and horse-riding.

His best competition result happened in a first ever combined running and pistol shooting, where he set two Olympic records for hitting five shots each in three sessions, with a score of 33.6 target points.

In his sporting career, Polívka took part in several modern pentathlon competitions, and won medals at the World and European Championships.

He also led his strong Czech team, including Svoboda and Michal Michalík to claim both gold and silver medals at the 2009 World Modern Pentathlon Championships in London.

This biographical article related to modern pentathlon in the Czech Republic is a stub.