Born in Langenzenn in Bavaria, Dollinger appeared at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics at the age of seventeen and competed in the first ever women's Olympic 800 metres. As the winner of the very first 800 m heat, her time of 2:22.4 minutes was the first Olympic record for the discipline. She reached the final of the competition and finished seventh while her older compatriot Lina Radke took the gold in a world record time. She improved her best to 2:17.5 minutes the following year, being ranked first in the world that year. She entered the 1930 Women's World Games among the favourites but was beaten into second place by British runner Gladys Lunn. In Magdeburg in 1931 she matched Radke's world record time of 2:16.8 minutes, but this has not subsequently been officially recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations