diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tools-Demos/2024-10-14-14-12-26.gh-issue-116114.xbAl-0.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tools-Demos/2024-10-14-14-12-26.gh-issue-116114.xbAl-0.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..ba7e24224b3395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Tools-Demos/2024-10-14-14-12-26.gh-issue-116114.xbAl-0.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Replace :c:var:`Py_OptimizeFlag` in ``makefreeze.py`` with
+:c:member:`PyConfig.optimization_level`.
diff --git a/Tools/freeze/makefreeze.py b/Tools/freeze/makefreeze.py
index c464f4bbb2655d..e190657db7affe 100644
--- a/Tools/freeze/makefreeze.py
+++ b/Tools/freeze/makefreeze.py
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@
 {
         extern int Py_FrozenMain(int, char **);
 """ + ((not __debug__ and """
-        Py_OptimizeFlag++;
+        PyConfig *config;
+        PyConfig_InitPythonConfig(config);
+        config->optimization_level++;
+        Py_InitializeFromConfig(config);
+        PyConfig_Clear(config);
 """) or "")  + """
         PyImport_FrozenModules = _PyImport_FrozenModules;
         return Py_FrozenMain(argc, argv);