  Heavy quark potential in the continuum theory at finite temperature is
calculated in different phases by using the Polyakov loop as the order
parameter. We find the linearly rising potential in the confinement phase, the
Debye screened potential in the deconfinement phase and the perturbative
$r^{-2}$ dependence at very high temperatures. Within the approximation used in
this paper we report an evidence of the first order phase transition
accompanied by the $SU(2)$ symmetry restoration at very high temperatures in
the static three dimensional theory.
