Ted Ginn Jr. tells TMZ Sports if he wasn't so damn good at football ... he'd be an Olympic track athlete with a gold medal already on his resume -- saying he's beaten Usain Bolt before!
The new Chicago Bear spoke with us this week about his track past ... and says he had straight-up OLYMPIC speed in high school and college!!!
In fact, Ginn Jr. says he not only clocked a 4.22 40-yard dash back then ... he claims to have beaten track legends like Bolt, Jason Richardson and Kerron Clement as well!!
"I ran against Usain Bolt -- I got him when we was in the 12th grade," Ginn Jr. says. "All of the top guys that have won the Olympics between 2004 'til now, I basically had a chance to race them guys in high school."
Ginn tells us if he hadn't turned into a monster wideout at Ohio State and stuck with track instead ... he'd "for sure" have a gold medal by now.
As for his football future ... 35-year-old Ginn doesn't seem like a guy slowing down anytime soon there -- he spoke with us about his expectations for the Bears in 2020, and dude's clearly fired up for Chicago!