Ryan Lochte called 911 on himself to report a late-night car crash in which he slammed his Porsche into another car ... and TMZ Sports has the recording.
"Um, yeah ... I would like to ummm, yeah ... we just got in an accident," the Olympic swimmer told the operator.
"I just rear-ended the people in front of me."
TMZ Sports broke the story ... Lochte was driving in Gainesville, FL Thursday at around 9:45 PM when he rear-ended a car ... hours after he drunkenly kicked in a door at a hotel in California.