Finnish-born Martti Rautio moved to Canada at a young age and became a member of the Canadian national cross-country skiing team in the early 1960s. He was selected to represent Canada in the sport at the 1964 Winter Olympics, and placed 15th and last in the 4x10 km relay alongside Eric Luoma, Don MacLeod, and Franz Portmann. Individually, Rautio placed 52nd among 69 starters in the 30 km and 65th out of 71 starters in the 15 km. He retired from active competition several years later, but later coached and trained his son Ron in skiing. Ron specialized in the ski jump and was an alternate on the Canadian delegation to the 1988 Winter Olympics, but did not actually compete.