Career
Vala made his debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he competed in the men"s super heavyweight division (130 kg). He placed third in a four-person preliminary pool against Israel"s Yuri Evseitchik, Turkey"s Fatih Bakir, and Poland"s Marek Sitnik, accumulating a score of five technical and four classification points. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Vala finished second in the preliminary pool round of the men"s 120 kg class, against Baroyev and Belarus" Andrei Chekhauskoi, with a total score of three technical and classification points each.
Eight years after competing in his last Olympics, Vala qualified for his third Czechoslovakian team, at the age of 34, for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, by placing second in the men"s heavyweight division in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Helsinki, Finland.