diff --git a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
--- a/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/itertoolsmodule.c
@@ -4090,15 +4090,23 @@
 {
     repeatobject *ro;
     PyObject *element;
+    PyObject *count_object = Py_None;
     Py_ssize_t cnt = -1;
     static char *kwargs[] = {"object", "times", NULL};
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|n:repeat", kwargs,
-                                     &element, &cnt))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|O:repeat", kwargs,
+                                     &element, &count_object))
         return NULL;
 
-    if (PyTuple_Size(args) == 2 && cnt < 0)
-        cnt = 0;
+    if (count_object == Py_None)
+        cnt = -1;
+    else {
+        cnt = PyLong_AsLong(count_object);
+        if ((cnt == -1) && PyErr_Occurred())
+            return NULL;
+        if (cnt < 0)
+            cnt = 0;
+    }
 
     ro = (repeatobject *)type->tp_alloc(type, 0);
     if (ro == NULL)